Thanigaimani, Shivshankar, Drovandi, Aaron, and Golledge, Jonathan (2022) No need to shift course on smoking cessation treatments for patients with peripheral artery disease: Reply. Journal of Vascular Surgery, 75 (5). pp. 1791-1792.

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Abstract

[Extract] We thank the author for commenting on our manuscript entitled “A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials evaluating the efficacy of smoking cessation interventions in people with peripheral artery disease.”1

The abstract refers to the main finding from the meta-analysis, namely that a pooled analysis of the smoking cessation programs tested suggested that they did not significantly increase the chance of quitting smoking (RR: 1.48 [95% CI 0.84, 2.61]), with low heterogeneity between studies (I2 = 20%). This is a true reflection of what the meta-analysis of these randomized trials showed. We agree that patients included in the previously tested programs did not frequently use medications designed to aid smoking cessation. This appeared due to low uptake of these drugs by the included patients despite the advice and counseling provided. In our experience, in clinical practice it is frequently difficult to assist patients with peripheral artery disease to quit smoking. Effective counseling programs and techniques to achieve uptake of smoking cessation pharmacotherapies are needed for patients with peripheral artery disease.

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