Counseling Is Effective for Smoking Cessation in Head and Neck Cancer Patients-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review was to describe the efficacy of smoking cessation counseling and the resulting quit rate in patients with head and neck cancer.

Materials And Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases. Predictor variables were smoking cessation counseling and smoking cessation interventions. The outcome was smoking cessation. Data collection and quality assessment were performed independently by 2 of the authors. Selected publications were assessed for potential risk of bias, and the level of evidence was evaluated using National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines. Review Manager 5.3 was used to conduct the meta-analysis.

Results: Eight studies involving 1,239 patients were included (3 randomized controlled trials, 3 cohorts, and 2 case series). Smoking cessation was achieved considerably more often in patients who received smoking cessation counseling compared with those who received usual care.

Conclusions: This review shows that counseling supplemented with nicotine replacement therapy increases the possibility for smoking cessation in patients with head and neck cancer.