Smoking cessation - Lung Foundation Australia

Not all people with lung disease have a history of smoking. However if your patient is a current smoker, the most important thing they can do to slow the rate of deterioration of their lung function is to quit.

Supporting your patients to quit

The following graph shows the effects that smoking and smoking cessation can have on lung function decline. The set of curves shows normal lung function decline for non-smoking men as well as the risks for death and disability for men who smoke.¹

At Lung Foundation Australia, we support proven, registered, therapeutic smoking cessation methods and medicines. We recommend a strategy that includes clinical counselling together with nicotine replacement therapy or other evidence-based forms of pharmacotherapy.

For your patients

Our dedicated quit smoking information webpage provides helpful tips and links for your patients about proven and approved methods to quit.

Nicotine e-cigarettes for smoking cessation

In some cases, doctors can prescribe nicotine e-cigarettes as a means of weaning off tobacco use. There is little evidence that using this method is successful in achieving this outcome. From 1 October 2021, the Australian government will introduce further restrictions to limit access to the use of nicotine e-cigarettes among adolescents and young adults. This will include requiring a valid prescription to import nicotine e-cigarettes and liquids containing nicotine. For more information, click here.

Resources for you

Supporting smoking cessation: A guide for health professionals

This second edition is the most comprehensive update, and brings the guideline in line with new modalities of smoking cessation. It also incorporates GRADE – a new approach to assessing clinical evidence and drafting practice recommendations.

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Nicotine vaping products: Information for prescribers

An overview of how medical practitioners can prescribe nicotine vaping products for their patients where appropriate and their obligations when doing so. It also applies to other health practitioners, such as nurse practitioners, who may be authorised to prescribe these products.

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Reference

1 Fletcher, C and Peto, R. The natural history of chronic airflow obstruction. BMJ. 1977, Vol. 1, pp.1645-1648.