Effectiveness of Very Brief Advice on Tobacco Cessation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Very brief advice (VBA; ≤ 3 min) on quitting is practical and scalable during brief medical interactions with patients who smoke. This study aims to synthesize the effectiveness of VBA for smoking cessation and summarize the implementation strategies. METHODS: We searched randomized controlled trials aiming at tobacco abstinence and comparing VBA versus no smoking advice or no contact from Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PsycInfo databases, six Chinese databases, two trial registries ClinicalTrials.gov and WHO-ICTRP from inception to September 30, 2023. Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations framework was used to assess the certainty of the evidence of the meta-analytic findings. The outcomes were self-reported long-term tobacco abstinence at least 6 months after treatment initiation, earlier than 6 months after treatment initiation, and quit attempts. Effect sizes were computed as risk ratio (RR) with 95% CI using frequentist random-effect models. DATA SYNTHESIS: Thirteen randomized controlled trials from 15 articles (n = 26,437) were included. There was moderate-certainty evidence that VBA significantly increased self-reported tobacco abstinence at ≥ 6 months in the adjusted model (adjusted risk ratio ARR 1.17, 95% CI: 1.07-1.27) compared with controls. The sensitivity analysis showed similar results when abstinence was verified by biochemical validation (n = 6 studies, RR 1.53, 95% CI 0.98-2.40). There was high-certainty evidence that VBA significantly increased abstinence at < 6 months (ARR 1.22, 95% CI: 1.01-1.47). Evidence of effect on quit attempts (ARR 1.03, 95% CI 0.97-1.08) was of very low certainty. DISCUSSION: VBA delivered in a clinical setting is effective in increasing self-reported tobacco abstinence, which provides support for wider adoption in clinical practice.

The effects of flow settings during high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy for neonates and young children.

BACKGROUND: During neonatal and paediatric high-flow nasal cannula therapy, optimising the flow setting is crucial for favourable physiological and clinical outcomes. However, considerable variability exists in clinical practice regarding initial flows and subsequent adjustments for these patients. Our review aimed to summarise the impact of various flows during high-flow nasal cannula treatment in neonates and children. METHODS: Two investigators independently searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus and Cochrane for in vitro and in vivo studies published in English before 30 April 2023. Studies enrolling adults (≥18 years) or those using a single flow setting were excluded. Data extraction and risk of bias assessments were performed independently by two investigators. The study protocol was prospectively registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022345419). RESULTS: 38 406 studies were identified, with 44 included. In vitro studies explored flow settings' effects on airway pressures, humidity and carbon dioxide clearance; all were flow-dependent. Observational clinical studies consistently reported that higher flows led to increased pharyngeal pressure and potentially increased intrathoracic airway pressure (especially among neonates), improved oxygenation, and reduced respiratory rate and work of breathing up to a certain threshold. Three randomised controlled trials found no significant differences in treatment failure among different flow settings. Flow impacts exhibited significant heterogeneity among different patients. CONCLUSION: Individualising flow settings in neonates and young children requires consideration of the patient's peak inspiratory flow, respiratory rate, heart rate, tolerance, work of breathing and lung aeration for optimal care.

Effectiveness of personalized smoking cessation intervention based on ecological momentary assessment for smokers who prefer unaided quitting: protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA)-based smoking cessation intervention may help personalize intervention for smokers who prefer to quit smoking unaided. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of EMA-based phone counseling and instant messaging for smoking cessation. Methods/design: This is a two-arm, accessor-blinded, simple individual randomized controlled trial (allocation ratio 1:1). Participants will be recruited from community sites and online platforms in Hong Kong. Interventions will be delivered via a phone call and instant messaging. Current adult smokers who (1) self-report no intention to use smoking cessation services and medication in the coming month and (2) have not used smoking cessation services or nicotine replacement therapy in the past 7 days will be recruited. Recruited participants will be randomized to intervention or control groups via an online randomizer. All participants will be required to complete EMAs (five times per day for 7 consecutive days). The intervention group (n = 220) will receive a nurse-led brief phone counseling immediately after the 1-week EMAs and 10-week EMA-based advice via instant messaging applications (e.g., WhatsApp, WeChat). The 10-week EMA-based advice covers a summary of the 1-week EMAs, and tailored cessation support focused on personalized smoking triggers. The control group (n = 220) will not receive any intervention during the same period. The primary outcomes are participants' progression toward smoking cessation assessed by the Incremental Behavior Change toward Smoking Cessation (IBC-S) and biochemically validated abstinence at the 3-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes include self-reported and biochemically validated tobacco abstinence at the 6-month follow-up. Discussion: The findings will provide evidence that the EMA-based tailored smoking cessation intervention can be adapted as a new health promotion strategy for current smokers who are unwilling to use smoking cessation aids. Clinical trial registration: https://classic.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05212220, identifier: NCT05212220.