Five important things to know about quitting smoking

March 9, 2015

Read the five top things cancer patients should know about quitting smoking, according to Dr. Andrew Pipe at the University of Ottawa

Former Chief of the Division of Prevention and Rehabilitation at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Andrew Pipe shares the five most essential things that patients should know about quitting smoking.

It’s never, ever too late to stop smoking.

1. It’s never, ever too late to stop smoking. There are benefits to cessation at any point in an individual’s life.
2. The number of times that a person has tried to quit before is one of the most important predictors of eventual success.
3. The appropriate use of pharmacotherapy can substantially improve the likelihood of cessation success and it’s important to recognize that pharmacotherapy may need to be titrated to meet the particular needs of that smoker.
4. That if they are making a cessation attempt and they have a lapse, which is often perceived as a failure, it’s important to get right back on that wagon, because in a sense lapses are somewhat predictable.
5. When making a cessation attempt, it’s quite appropriate for an individual to avoid certain settings that they may associate with smoking, that might have very powerful inducements to smoking or where alcohol is going to be served or available.