Utilizing exhaled carbon monoxide measurement with self‐declared smoking cessation: enhancing abstinence effectiveness in T aiwanese outpatients

Background Presently, the D epartment of H ealth T aiwan has begun to fund a smoking cessation program, and the annual cessation rate was 8.9% in 2010. This study aims to see whether to enhance abstinence effectiveness by utilizing exhaled carbon monoxide ( COE xh) measurement with self‐declared smoking cessation. Methods The longitudinal prospective study gathered 33 subjects on quitting smoking with the motivation to join the grant program in chest outpatient from A ugust 2009 to J uly 2010. Overall, subjects were given nicotine replacement therapy ( NRT ) in the first stage, and explored abstinence rate results in evaluation stage. The cutoff point of COE xh 6 ppm or less than (≤) and patients' self‐declared abstinence reports confirmed a smoking cessation success status. Point abstinences were defined as the smokers refrained from smoking at least 7 days, while continuous abstinences were defined as nonsmoking at least 3, 6 and 12 months. Results The validities were 198 tracking results for two stages ( P  < 0.001 vs P  < 0.001), and sensitivity (56.5% vs 60.0%), specificity (90.1% vs 82.6%), positive predictive value (63.4% vs 60.0%) and negative predictive value (87.2% vs 82.6%) were detected. Moreover, the validities were 33 results for point and continuous abstinences at 3 month ( P  < 0.001 vs P  < 0.001), and higher successful rates. Point abstinence rates at 3, 6 and 12 months follow‐up for overall subjects were 27.2%, 15.2% and 18.1%, respectively. Continuous abstinence rates at 3, 6 and 12 months were 24.2%, 12.1% and 12.1%, respectively. Conclusions Utilizing COE xh measurement with self‐declared smoking cessation enhanced abstinence effectiveness in T aiwanese outpatients.