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higher in the active referral group (25.1%) than in either brief advice (2.4%) or control (3.4%) groups at 6 months (P < .001). Discussion and Conclusion Brief advice plus active referral to SC services helped more community- based smokers achieve abstinence than brief advice only or control groups, which is also more effective than interventions used in previous trials within QTW contests, such as text messaging, financial incentives, or ‘cut-down-to-quit’. Many participants had received cessation medications (e.g. varenicline) or nicotine replacement therapy, which can double the quit rate achieved through standard counseling. The present trial has provided new evidence that trained healthcare students and community volunteers can reach a large number of smokers in a short period of time to deliver brief interventions at low cost, which is widely accepted by community-based smokers. Background Smoking cessation (SC) services providing evidence- based interventions improve quitting substantially, but only 3.0% of daily smokers in Hong Kong ever use SC services; nearly all (95%) of the remaining individuals have no interest in seeking help. 2 Active referral, which connects smokers with SC service providers and allows smokers to choose their preferred method of assistance, may increase both SC use and quit rates. 3,4 We have conducted a randomized clinical trial (RCT) to examine the efficacy of using trained volunteers to actively refer community-based smokers to SC services. The results have been published and awarded Sigma Thete Tau Pi lota Scholarship 2018. Methods A total of 1226 smokers participated in the Quit-to Win (QTW) contest in 2015 consented to be randomly assigned to one of the 3 groups of this RCT (active referral, n=402; brief advice only, n=416; control, n=408) based on recruitment session. 5 Participants in the active referral group received brief SC advice and were actively referred to SC services. The brief advice group participants were not actively referred and the control group received minimal general SC advice and a 12- page self-help booklet. Self-reported past 7-day point prevalence of abstinence (PPA), biochemically validated abstinence and SC service use were recorded at 3- and 6-month follow-up. Results Participants included 991 (80.8%) men; mean (SD) age was 42.0 (14.8) years. The retention rate was 68.2% at 3 months and 72.3% at 6 months. The corresponding PPAs were 18.9% and 17.2% in the active referral group - higher than in the brief advice (8.9% and 9.4%; both P < .001) or control (14.0% and 11.5%; P = .03 at 6 months) groups. Compared with the other 2 groups, the active referral group had significantly higher validated abstinence rates (10.2% at 3 months and 9.0% at 6 months, all P < .05) at 3 months and at 6 months than the brief advice and control groups. The SC service use rate was significantly Research F eature Stories Dr. Kelvin Wang Assistant Professor Brief Advice plus Active Referral to Smoking Cessation Services is Effective in Promoting Quitting in Community-based Smokers Figure 1. Published in JAMA Internal Medicine Figure 2. Self-reported quitting (PPA) and biochemically validated abstinence at 3- and 6-month follow-ups Acknowledgments The project was funded by the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health. References 1 Wang MP, Suen YN, Li WH, et al. Intervention With Brief Cessation Advice Plus Active Referral for Proactively Recruited Community Smokers: A Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2017;177(12):1790-1797. 2 Census and Statistics Department. Thematic Household Survey, Report No. 59: Pattern of Smoking. Hong Kong SAR: Hong Kong SAR Government; 2016. 3 Murray RL, Coleman T, Antoniak M, et al. The effect of proactively identifying smokers and offering smoking cessation support in primary care populations. Addiction . 2008;103(6):998-1006. 4 Rigotti NA, Bitton A, Kelley JK, Hoeppner BB, Levy DE, Mort E. Offering population-based tobacco treatment in a healthcare setting. Am J Prev Med. 2011;41(5):498-503. 5 Suen YN, Wang MP, Li WH, et al. Brief advice and active referral for smoking cessation services among community smokers. BMC Public Health. 2016;16:387. 2