Review Helping hospital patients quit: What the evidence supports and what guidelines recommend Luke Wolfenden a, ⁎ , Elizabeth Campbell a,b , John Wiggers a,b , Raoul A. Walsh a,c , Laura J. Bailey a a Hunter New England Population Health, Hunter New England Area Health Service, Locked Bag No. 10, Wallsend NSW 2287, Australia b The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia c Centre for Health Research and Psycho-oncology (CHeRP), The Cancer Council New South Wales, Newcastle, NSW, Australia Available online 8 December 2007 Abstract Objective. The study aimed to critically appraise the extent and strength of systematic review evidence for, and guideline recommendations regarding hospital smoking cessation interventions. Methods. Systematic reviews of smoking cessation interventions were identified via an electronic search of the Cochrane Library. Meta- analyses from Cochrane reviews were categorised as those that incorporated only studies of hospital based interventions, and those which incorporated interventions which were not hospital based. Smoking cessation guidelines for hospital health professionals were identified via a search of the World Wide Web. Results. The review found that evidence from meta-analyses restricted to hospital studies was insufficient to evaluate a number of specific intervention strategies and at times conflicted with the findings of meta-analyses without such restrictions. The majority of guidelines recommended the provision of brief advice, counseling, nicotine replacement therapy despite the absence of clear supporting evidence. Conclusions. Further hospital-based research addressing specific cessation strategies is required. Furthermore, smoking cessation guidelines for hospital based health professionals should more specifically reflect evidence from this setting. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Smoking cessation; Hospital; Guidelines; Cochrane; Review Contents Introduction ................................................................ 347 Methods .................................................................. 348 Review scope ............................................................. 348 Data source .............................................................. 348 Search strategy ............................................................ 348 Analysis ................................................................ 348 Cochrane reviews ......................................................... 348 Clinical practice guidelines .................................................... 348 Results ................................................................... 348 Cochrane reviews ........................................................... 348 Clinical practice guidelines ...................................................... 348 1) Hospital smoking cessation interventions of varying intensity ................................... 349 Cochrane reviews ......................................................... 349 Clinical practice guideline recommendations ........................................... 352 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Preventive Medicine 46 (2008) 346 – 357 www.elsevier.com/locate/ypmed ⁎ Corresponding author. Fax: +61 2 4924 6215. E-mail address: luke.wolfenden@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au (L. Wolfenden). 0091-7435/$ - see front matter © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2007.12.003