mCessation program: study methods and baseline characteristics of enrolled participants / 中华健康管理学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To describe the study methods and baseline characteristics of participants enrolled in mCessation program.Methods:This is a longitudinal, real-world study with non-randomized controlled design. The mCessation program consisted of a WeChat official account, an applet and a website using the same name ‘mCessation Online’. After users followed the WeChat account, filled in baseline information online and set a quit date, they would receive 162 short text messages in the next six and a half months as scheduled. This study collected the information of participants enrolled from May 26, 2021 to September 30, 2022, and analyzed baseline data including demographic characteristics, smoking characteristics, degree of tobacco dependence, reasons for smoking cessation and other related factors.Results:During the study period, a total of 16 746 participants registered, and 13 887 participants (82.9%) were enrolled in final analysis after screening the inclusion and exclusion criteria and completion of main indicators. Each year the number of enrolled participants in May or June was 1 381 to 2 707 per month, higher than the number of enrolled participants in other months (233 to 569 per month). Participants from North China accounted for the largest proportion (29.3%). There were 13 316 men (95.9%) in enrolled participants and the mean age was (36±10) years. Most participants were 25-34 (38.8%) or 35-44 (30.8%) years old. In terms of smoking characteristics, there were 12 564 (90.5%) daily smokers. The starting age of smoking was 18 (15, 20) years old. 11 866 participants (85.4%) were tobacco dependent, mostly with degree of mild (76.4%) or moderate (20.2%). In terms of reasons for quitting, 9 315 participants′ (67.1%) reasons were to prevent disease, 6 742 participants (48.5%) were concerned about impact of smoking on family members, and 6 731 participants (48.5%) were under requested by families.Conclusion:mCessation program can effectively recruit smokers with intention to quit in short time, especially those who were male, young and tobacco dependent.