Trial reportThe Medical journal of Australia2022
Offering mailed nicotine replacement therapy and Quitline support before elective surgery: a randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in The Medical journal of Australia, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Peri-operative tobacco cessation interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Anaesthesia · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Trial
- Preoperative smoking cessation interventions and their effects on smoking abstinence and postoperative outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Updates in surgery · 2025Review
- Article
- Koori Quit Pack: A Feasibility Study of a Multi-Component Mailout Smoking Cessation Support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People: "I Would Recommend it to Anybody. It's Just so Much Easier."Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025Article
- Preoperative smoking cessation interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Perioperative medicine (London, England) · 2025Review
- Pharmacist E-script transcription service initiated nicotine replacement therapy uptake in pre-admission clinic: A pilot study.Health promotion journal of Australia : official journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo assess whether offering free mailed nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and telephone counselling to smokers on elective surgery waiting lists increases quitting before surgery. DESIGN,
settingRandomised, controlled trial at Frankston Hospital, a public tertiary referral hospital in Melbourne.
participantsAdult smokers added to elective surgery waiting lists for operations at least ten days in the future, 1 April 2019 - 3 April 2020.
interventionIn addition to normal care, intervention participants received a brochure on the risks of low frequency smoking, an offer of Quitline call-back registration, and an offer of mailed NRT according to reported daily smoking: 1-9 cigarettes/day, 2 mg lozenges; 10-15/day, 7-14 mg patches [three weeks] and 2 mg lozenges; > 15/day, 7-21 mg patches [five weeks] and 2 mg lozenges.
main outcome measuresPrimary outcome: quitting at least 24 hours before surgery, verified by exhaled carbon monoxide testing. SECONDARY OUTCOMES: quitting at least four weeks before surgery, adverse events, and (for those who had quit before surgery) abstinence three months after surgery.
resultsOf 748 eligible participants (control, 363; intervention, 385), 516 (69%) had undergone elective surgery when the trial was terminated early (for COVID-19-related reasons) (intervention group, 274; control group, 242). 122 of the 385 intervention participants (32%) had accepted the offer of cessation support. The proportions of intervention participants who quit at least 24 hours before surgery (18% v 9%; odds ratio [OR], 1.97; 95% CI, 1.22-3.15) or at least four weeks before surgery (9% v 4%; OR, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.08-4.50) were larger than for the control group. Three months after surgery, 27 of 58 intervention (47%) and 12 of 25 control participants (48%) who quit before surgery reported not smoking in the preceding seven days. No major adverse events were reported.
conclusionUptake of free mailed NRT and Quitline support by smokers on elective surgery waiting lists was good, and offering additional support was associated with higher proportions of smokers quitting before surgery.
trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12619000032156 (prospective).
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