BMJ Group, United Health Foundation Publish Practical, Evidence-based Guidelines to Promote Smoking Cessation in U.S. Adult Populations

Business Wire, Oct 15, 2007

* New, Evidence-based Literature Review Provides Valuable Tips for Successful Quitting, Innovative Toolkit for Primary Care Physicians

DENVER -- BMJ Group, publisher of the BMJ (British Medical Journal), and United Health Foundation, a nonprofit private foundation established by UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), are distributing important new guidelines regarding smoking cessation interventions to more than 500,000 U.S. physicians. The report, entitled "Putting Evidence into Practice: Smoking Cessation," examines the current medical evidence for interventions that best help adults quit smoking and provides a practical toolkit for putting the evidence into everyday clinical practice.

Cigarette smoking remains the number one avoidable cause of death and disability within the United States today. And although most smokers want to quit, most attempts at cessation fail. Encouraging smoking cessation is now recognized as a critical component of medical care and public health. To address this critical gap in knowledge, United Health Foundation commissioned BMJ Group to review the currently available medical evidence regarding the effectiveness of various smoking cessation interventions and develop a practical set of guidelines and tools that physicians can use in their interactions with patients who want to quit smoking. Highlights of the findings include:

* Personal motivation to quit smoking is important, but it's not enough - most smokers need encouragement, assistance and guidance

* Smoking should be thought of as a chronic disease, with exacerbations and remissions

* Medications can successfully treat the addiction component of smoking

* Behavioral counseling must address the habit

* A primary care systems approach can help identify and successfully treat smokers

"Clinicians deserve convenient access to trustworthy and relevant clinical evidence as they make treatment decisions to prevent the health consequences associated with tobacco use," said Reed V. Tuckson, M.D., United Health Foundation. "We are pleased that BMJ Group has responded to our call for this summary of the scientific knowledge that defines the benefits of cessation, effective interventions and public policy initiatives, among others. We hope that clinicians and policy experts will translate this current knowledge into programs that result in more successful clinical interventions and healthier people."

"As an international authority in evidence-based medicine, BMJ Group is uniquely positioned to create effective guidelines for smoking cessation," said Dr. Fiona Godlee, editor in chief of the BMJ. "We're pleased to be able to provide U.S. physicians with reliable and independent information about the interventions that have been proven to work."

In addition to this smoking cessation paper, for the past seven years United Health Foundation has distributed BMJ Group's BMJ Clinical Evidence to physicians in the United States. Launched in 1999, BMJ Clinical Evidence remains the gold standard in evidence-based synopses on the effectiveness of common clinical interventions. It provides systematic reviews of evidence for over 3,000 interventions and provides answers to more than 570 clinical questions. It is currently used by over one million clinicians worldwide, including 500,000 physicians in the U.S.

About United Health Foundation

United Health Foundation is an independent not-for-profit foundation solely funded by UnitedHealth Group. The Foundation provides information to physicians and other health professionals, individuals and communities to support health and medical decisions that lead to better health outcomes and healthier communities. For further information, please visit www.unitedhealthfoundation.org.

About BMJ Group

BMJ Group (www.group.bmj.com) is one of the world leaders in medical publishing. The Group publishes the BMJ (British Medical Journal), leading journals covering major medical specialties, BMJ Clinical Evidence and several other evidence-based resources. The mission of the Group is to publish intellectually sound material that will serve the needs of doctors, members, other health professionals, the scientific community and the public.