Evaluation of cessation services provided at a tobacco cessation clinic in a teaching dental hospital.

BACKGROUND

Tobacco cessation interventions provided in a dental office or hospital settings are beneficial in helping patients to quit tobacco. Regular monitoring of these interventions is required to assess their success rate and factors hindering its improvement. This study evaluated cessation services provided through a Tobacco Cessation Clinic (TCC) established in a government teaching dental hospital in Delhi, India.

. MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Patients visiting the TCC from April 2016 to March 2018 were contacted to participate in this study. All the willing participants were administered a structured questionnaire telephonically or in person. The questionnaire focused on gathering information on patients' current tobacco use status, feedback on intervention provided at TCC and reasons for missing TCC appointments. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was performed to assess the effect of socio-demographic factors, nicotine dependence and interventions at TCC on current tobacco use status of participants.

RESULTS

Of the 309 participants, 60 (19.4%) reported complete tobacco abstinence and 78 (22.3%) reduced consumption by more than half from their first visit to TCC. Most of the participants (81.5%) were satisfied with the tobacco cessation interventions provided at the TCC. Multivariate analysis shows that odds of quitting were higher in participants with low tobacco dependence (OR 3.03, CI 0.98,9.35) and those who were satisfied with counselling method at TCC (OR 8.8, CI 2.05, 38.35).

CONCLUSION

Interventions provided at our TCC were found beneficial by the study participants to reduce tobacco consumption or achieve total tobacco abstinence. A timely reminder can be provided to increase patients' compliance.