Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39936347›Full record

ArticleStatistical methods in medical research2025

Using Bayesian evidence synthesis to quantify uncertainty in population trends in smoking behaviour.

Stephen Wade, Peter Sarich, Pavla Vaneckova, Silvia Behar-Harpaz, Preston J Ngo, Paul B Grogan, Sonya Cressman, Coral E Gartner, John M Murray, Tony Blakely and 5 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Statistical methods in medical research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Evaluating Semi-Markov Processes and Other Epidemiological Time-to-Event Models by Computing Disease Sojourn Density as Partial Differential Equations.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2025
    Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Stephen WadeThe Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney, a joint venture with Cancer Council New South Wales, Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-2573-9683
Peter SarichThe Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney, a joint venture with Cancer Council New South Wales, Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-9596-6825
Pavla VaneckovaThe Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney, a joint venture with Cancer Council New South Wales, Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-9213-8733
Silvia Behar-HarpazSchool of Physics, UNSW, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-2287-8220
Preston J NgoThe Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney, a joint venture with Cancer Council New South Wales, Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-5453-0734
Paul B GroganThe Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney, a joint venture with Cancer Council New South Wales, Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-7680-1811
Sonya CressmanFaculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-4769-8082
Coral E GartnerSociety for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-6651-8035
John M MurraySchool of Mathematics and Statistics, UNSW, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-9314-2283
Tony BlakelyMelbourne School of Population & Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-6995-4369
Emily BanksNational Centre for Epidemiology & Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-4617-1302
Martin C TammemagiBrock University, St Catharines, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-4989-5058
Karen CanfellThe Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney, a joint venture with Cancer Council New South Wales, Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-6443-6618
Marianne F WeberThe Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney, a joint venture with Cancer Council New South Wales, Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-5731-9651
Michael CaruanaThe Daffodil Centre, The University of Sydney, a joint venture with Cancer Council New South Wales, Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-5439-6552

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Simulation models of smoking behaviour provide vital forecasts of exposure to inform policy targets, estimates of the burden of disease, and impacts of tobacco control interventions. A key element of useful model-based forecasts is a clear picture of uncertainty due to the data used to inform the model, however, assessment of this parameter uncertainty is incomplete in almost all tobacco control models. As a remedy, we demonstrate a Bayesian approach to model calibration that quantifies parameter uncertainty. With a model calibrated to Australian data, we observed that the smoking cessation rate in Australia has increased with calendar year since the late 20th century, and in 2016 people who smoked would quit at a rate of 4.7 quit-events per 100 person-years (90% equal-tailed interval (ETI): 4.5-4.9). We found that those who quit smoking before age 30 years switched to reporting that they never smoked at a rate of approximately 2% annually (90% ETI: 1.9-2.2%). The Bayesian approach demonstrated here can be used as a blueprint to model other population behaviours that are challenging to measure directly, and to provide a clearer picture of uncertainty to decision-makers.

Indexed as

SmokingAdultAustraliaBayes TheoremFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedModels, StatisticalSmoking CessationUncertaintyAustraliaBayesiancalibrationpopulation trendssimulation modelsmoking

Identifiers

PMID39936347
PMCPMC11951451

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.