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Oxford's research has helped reduce smoking prevalence and tobacco-related mortality worldwide. Our epidemiological studies have documented the varied ways in which smoking causes death in many countries, as well as the large benefits of smoking cessation, and have strongly influenced the WHO/Bloomberg 2008 MPOWER package, the key document guiding governmental tobacco policy worldwide. Oxford University researchers have also coordinated the systematic reviews that underpin effective evidence-based policies for encouraging smoking cessation both in the UK and worldwide, for example providing evidence supporting NICE guidance for smoking cessation.
Research and development at the University of Surrey of a guided audio to help abstinent smokers manage their stress, smoking cravings and tobacco withdrawal symptoms.
The audio — in MP3 format — is freely available on the NHS Stop Smoking website, and is part of the NHS smoking `Quit Kit'. The audio has been downloaded 81,396 times (as of May, 2013). The main user groups of the audio are NHS patients wishing to stop smoking, and members of the general population.
The txt2stop trial, led by LSHTM, provided robust evidence that smoking cessation support delivered by text messaging doubles biochemically verified quitting at six months and is highly cost-effective. The research resulted in a new smoking cessation service delivered by text message in England, with over 34,000 smokers having joined the programme by the end of March 2013. The research was noted in international forums and used by WHO in a presentation to member countries; at least four countries have taken steps to roll out their own programmes. The trial findings received exceptionally wide media coverage in 2011.
UEL's Drugs and Addictive Behaviours Research Group (DABRG) was the first UK group to demonstrate that regular smoking can cause stress and depression. This work has had - and continues to have - a significant impact on public awareness and understanding of the effects of smoking on mood and cognition. Input into the Department of Health Consultation on the Future of Tobacco Control has directly fed into UK Tobacco Control Policy. More recent research on electronic cigarettes has informed public health professionals, smokers and users about the nature and effects of e-cigarette use. In particular, the work has underpinned the development and delivery of new and improved evidence-based information resources for use by these stakeholders. It has also delivered commercial benefits for e-cigarette manufacturers, whose marketing strategies, lobbying activities and preparations for regulatory control have been directly informed by this work.
Smoking is the single most important preventable cause of mortality and inequalities in health in the UK. Tobacco use causes over 100,000 deaths each year in the UK, with around 10,000 of these due to non-smokers' exposure to secondhand smoke. The total cost of smoking to society is estimated to be over £13 billion. The UoE Tobacco Control Research Group's (TCRG) research and knowledge exchange activities have significantly influenced tobacco control policy and practice in the UK (http://www.cphs.mvm.ed.ac.uk/groups/tcrg or http://tinyurl.com/nwxcpnh). More specifically, their research on smoking and non-smoking by young people has influenced smoking prevention and cessation policy at the national level in Scotland and England and at regional/local levels. Their evaluation studies of the national smoke-free legislation in Scotland and England provided important evidence on the legislation's positive public health impact, thereby undermining the case for repealing or diluting the legislation. Their research on reducing smoking in the home has influenced national policy and practice on this issue in Scotland including national mass media campaigns.
Systematic quantitative reviews of epidemiological evidence linking parental smoking with adverse respiratory health effects in childhood were published in 1997-1999 in Thorax. These meta-analyses were updated as a contribution to the US Surgeon-General's report on Secondhand Smoking, published in 2006, and the UK Royal College of Physicians' report on Passive Smoking and Children, published in 2010.
Over this period the adverse health effects of environmental tobacco smoke achieved prominence in public health policy, through campaigns for smoke-free workplaces (including pubs and restaurants) and publicity against parental smoking in the presence of children, both in cars and in the home.
Research, policy development, evaluation and advocacy work at The University of Nottingham has achieved significant impact in helping to prevent the harm to health caused by smoking, which is the largest avoidable cause of death and disability, and of social inequalities in health, in the UK. This impact has been achieved through contributions in two areas of prevention: (1) conventional population- and individual-level interventions to prevent smoking uptake and promote smoking cessation; and (2) novel population-level measures to encourage substitution of smoked tobacco with alternative, low hazard nicotine products as a harm reduction strategy.
Research carried out by Professor Susan Michie and colleagues led to the establishment of the NHS Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) in 2009 to improve the quality of national stop smoking service provision. The team won the Department of Health contract to form the NCSCT which has led to important quality improvements as demonstrated by increases in knowledge and skills of practitioners, and improvements in success rates. It is estimated that to date the NCSCT has been responsible for an additional 7,500 smokers stopping long-term, saving an estimated 6,500 life years at an incremental cost of less than £500 per life year gained.
Since 2010, over 60,000 Year 8 students (including over 11,000 trained peer supporters) have been exposed to a new smoking prevention programme which has achieved a projected 1674 fewer teenage smokers. DECIPHer-ASSIST, a theoretically-grounded peer-led, schools-based smoking prevention intervention was developed and evaluated during research studies conducted at Cardiff University. An MRC-funded trial demonstrated that this intervention reduced the prevalence of smoking by 10% and that it is cost-effective. The intervention has been highlighted in numerous national strategy documents and was recommended in NICE guidance. It is being implemented under licence by public health providers in 23 areas across the UK. A new Cardiff University-owned company (DECIPHer Impact Ltd) sells these licences and supports the delivery of ASSIST in secondary schools.