Behaviour change

Below you will find the latest clinical articles covering . Primary care nurses are at the forefront of and need to stay abreast of all the latest practice and treatment updates as their interaction with patients continuously evolves.

Smoking cessation and serious mental illness

Graham Cope explains how people with mental health conditions can be encouraged to quit smoking

Coronavirus - assessing the effects of smoking and vaping

Can tobacco and e-cigarette use affect the outcomes of COVID-19? Graham Cope looks at the early evidence

Learning lessons from smoking cessation conversations

Midwife Judith Kennedy shares her experience from discussing smoking with a pregnant patient

Varenicline is effective in smoking cessation – if patients adhere

Varenicline combined with behavioural support helps about half of smokers to quit, new Spanish research suggests

Smoking rates lowest ever

In 2015, 17.2% of people aged 18 years and over in the UK smoked cigarettes. This represents a significant reduction from 20.1% in 2010 and is the lowest level on record

Low-level smoking still kills

Consistently smoking just one cigarette daily increases the risk of death compared to people who never smoke, a new study from the USA has found

Always offer smoking cessation

Healthcare professionals should treat tobacco dependency as part of routine practice, says Darush Attar-Zadeh

The end of smoking?

Mark Greener presents key studies linked to reductions in smoking rates

Passive smoking encourages tooth decay

Infants exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke when they are four months old may be twice as likely to develop dental caries at three years of age as unexposed children, Japanese research suggests.

Passive smoking increases diabetes risk

Active and passive smoking appears to increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a new meta-analysis.

Smoking hastens MS decline

People who continued to smoke after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) converted to secondary progressive MS (SPMS) more rapidly than those who quit, according to research from Sweden

Smoking cessation: Have a quick word and save a life

Offering simple advice to smokers is worth it, says Andy McEwen.

Smokers risk second cancer

Smoking cigarettes before an initial diagnosis of smoking-related cancer increases mortality and the risk of developing a second smoking-associated malignancy in those who initially survive lung, bladder, kidney, and head and neck cancers, a study has shown.