HKU_Newsletter_Issue 39_0828

Helping Smokers Quit: Our Moral Obligation and Unshirkable Responsibility establish evidence-based intervention guidelines or protocols to help smokers quit, both in hospitals and in the community. Building on our strengths, we should not only work closely with the Hong Kong government, but seek opportunities in the near future to collaborate with the World Health Organisation to establish a regional accreditation centre for smoking cessation and training in Hong Kong. This will be an arduous task and the road will be long, but moral obligation prohibits declining the call. References 1. World Health Organization. Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic: Enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Switzerland, Geneva: World Health Organization; 2013. 2. Lam TH, He Y. Lam, and He respond to “The Challenge of Tobacco Control in China”. Am J Epidemiol. 2014;1 79:1074–5 3. Pirie K, Peto R, Reeves GK, et al. The 21st century hazards of smoking and benefits of stopping: a prospective study of onemillionwomen in theUK. Lancet. 2013; 381(9861): 133–41. Cigarette smoking is the most important preventable cause of death and disease, causing six million deaths annually worldwide. 1 An increasing body of evidence shows that smoking has negative effects on nearly every organ of the body. 1 There is evidence that half of the smokers who continue to smoke will die prematurely because of disease caused by smoking. Additional evidence from the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia demonstrates that smoking is responsible for the premature death of two-thirds of all smokers, and is especially hazardous for those who start smoking at a young age. 2 Nevertheless, some evidence suggests that cessation before 40 years of age prevents more than 90% of deaths caused by continued smoking. 3 Given the harmful effects of continued smoking and the beneficial effects of quitting, helping smokers to quit is of paramount importance. Although people have personal freedom to smoke and do what they like in their life, we cannot say, “It’s up to smokers if they want to kill themselves” As healthcare professionals, we respect autonomy, but we cannot see someone in mortal danger without lifting a finger to save him. We have a moral obligation and unshirkable responsibility to save lives by helping smokers quit. In addition, as researchers, it is incumbent on us to conduct rigorous and high-quality research to determine the most effective intervention in helping smokers quit. Where are we now? To the best of our knowledge, the School’s Smoking Cessation and Tobacco Control team is the largest research group for the promotion of smoking cessation in Hong Kong. We have also conducted the largest number of randomised controlled trials on smoking cessation in Hong Kong with high-impact international publications and local and regional policy impacts. In addition, we have conducted more than 50 Smoking Cessation Counsellor Training Programmes for more than 2,000 nurses, physicians, pharmacists, Chinese medical practitioners, community social workers, volunteers from NGOs, secondary school and university students over the past two decades. The table summarizes the key smoking cessation interventions that we conducted over the past two decades. Challenges: Where are we going? Notwithstanding the low prevalence of e-cigarette use in Hong Kong, the tobacco industry still exploits loopholes to promote its products, particularly to youth who are curious about e-cigarettes and may find them more fashionable than cigarettes. We continuously plan, develop and evaluate smoking cessation interventions through scientific inquiry to motivate smokers to quit smoking, thereby reducing smoking prevalence and contributing to a smoke-free Hong Kong. In addition to evaluating new innovations for smoking cessation and committing to the pursuit of excellence in tobacco research, we must translate the evidence into clinical practice to Research F eature Story Dr. William Li Associate Professor Key research grants for smoking cessation Year A randomised controlled trial of a nurse delivered staged-matched smoking cessation intervention to promote heart health of cardiac patients 2001-2005 A randomised controlled trial on smoking cessation and adherence intervention on patients with erectile dysfunction 2003-2007 Helping Youth Smokers Stop Smoking through the Youth Quitline Programme 2005-2018 Promoting women’s health: a gender specific smoking cessation program for female smokers in Hong Kong 2006-2009 A proactive family smoking cessation intervention for parents of children 0-18 months: a randomized controlled trial 2008-2011 Building capacity and promoting smoking cessation in the community via Quit to Win 2009-2018 A randomized controlled trial of a tailored intervention compared to usual care on smoking type 2 diabetic patients to promote smoking cessation and improve glycaemic control 2001-2014 Helping cancer patients quit smoking by increasing improving their risk perception communication between smoking and their own disease: a cluster randomized controlled trial 2012-2016 Effectiveness of a brief, self-determination intervention for smoking cessation (immediate or Progressive) among people attending emergency departments: A randomised controlled trial 2016-2018 Helping in-patients to quit smoking by understanding their risk perception, behavior, and attitudes related to smoking 2016-2017 2 Vision to L ead Mission to Serve

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