Spirometry to motivate smoking cessation - a systematic review

Abstract

Performing spirometry on patients who smoke, yet are asymptomatic, to show adverse effects has been suggested to be useful for motivation to quit smoking. However, the effect of such intervention is unclear. The purpose of this review is to determine whether or not feedback of spirometry results to adult smokers in connection with counselling to stop smoking can increase the rates of smoking cessation compared to smoking cessation advice alone. In this systematic review, we included RCTs evaluating smoking cessation interventions for smokers. A systematic search was performed in seven databases. This resulted in 946 studies, which, after reading by two independent reviewers, were reduced to seven trials that matched the inclusion criteria. Two RCTs showed significant improvement in smoking cessation when giving patients feedback on spirometric results in combination with smoking cessation counselling, as compared to patients who only received smoking cessation counselling. In both studies, the spirometry results were expressed as so-called lung age. In the other five studies no difference was found. Five further study protocols for ongoing RCTs have been found, which can be expected to necessitate the updating of this systematic overview within a few years. In summary, there is today limited support in the literature that feedback from spirometry including demonstration of lung age, in addition to smoking cessation counselling, is favorable for motivating patients to stop smoking. Regarding long-term effects, scientific support is today insufficient.