People who are trying to stop smoking could benefit from using a mobile phone app to assist their quit attempt, a study has found.<\/p>\n
Researchers found that apps designed to help smoking cessation are particularly effective when used alongside the appropriate medication.<\/p>\n
But even when used as a single tool, they can be effective as a quit aid, the study suggests.<\/p>\n
Academics from China examined data from all studies ascertaining the effectiveness of stop-smoking apps.<\/p>\n
The new review pooled the information from 31 studies involving 12,800 people.<\/p>\n
They found that smartphone apps used alone may improve the odds of a person kicking the habit for six months, compared with no or minimal support.<\/p>\n
When combined with \u201ctraditional interventions\u201d, smartphone apps increased the odds of people steering clear from cigarettes for six months.<\/p>\n
And when combined with medicines to stop smoking, the apps appeared to enhance a person\u2019s ability to quit for six months compared with medicines alone, though the research team said that this finding was based on \u201clow-certainty evidence\u201d.<\/p>\n
Apps based on psychological-behavioural theories increased abstinence compared with \u201ctraditional behavioural apps\u201d, they added.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmartphone apps may be effective for smoking cessation compared with no or minimal support,\u201d the authors wrote in the journal BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen combined with traditional interventions \u2013 especially pharmacotherapy \u2013 they may result in large increases in abstinence rates over traditional methods alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
They added: \u201cSmartphone apps provide a scalable, low-cost option for clinical resource-limited settings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis systematic review provides actionable evidence for clinicians seeking to tailor digital tools and policymakers aiming to scale cessation services.<\/p>\n
\u201cShould future evidence confirm lasting benefits and pinpoint key features, rigorously validated apps could become a cornerstone of global tobacco control efforts.\u201d \u2013 PA Media\/dpa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People who are trying to stop smoking could benefit from using a mobile phone app to assist their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[2724,342,111,139,69,145816,20789,145,5510],"class_list":{"0":"post-250960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-app","9":"tag-mobile","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-quit-smoking","14":"tag-smoking","15":"tag-technology","16":"tag-wellness"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}