Smoking Cessation Among Diabetic Patients in Kerala, India: 1-Year Follow-up Results From a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Considering the adverse health effects of smoking, the American Diabetes Association recommends smoking cessation among diabetic patients (1). One-year follow-up data on smoking cessation among diabetic patients are not available (2). We conducted this study to find the effectiveness of diabetes-specific smoking cessation counseling by a nondoctor health professional (NDHP) in addition to quitting advice by a doctor at 1 year. We recruited 224 adult male diabetic patients aged ≥18 years who smoked in the previous month from two diabetes clinics of Kerala for our randomized controlled trial. They were randomized into two equal groups: intervention-1 and intervention-2. Patients in both groups were asked and advised by a doctor to quit smoking and education materials on smoking-related complications were provided. The intervention-2 group received four additional diabetes-specific 30-min smoking cessation counseling sessions at baseline and 1, 3, and 6 months …