Effect of the first federally funded US antismoking national media campaign
Menée auprès de 3 051 fumeurs et 2 220 non fumeurs, cette étude américaine analyse les effets d'une campagne nationale de lutte contre le tabac, conduite pendant 3 mois en 2012, mettant en avant les conseils d'anciens fumeurs
Background : Every year, smoking kills more than 5 million people globally, including 440 000 people in the USA, where the long-term decline in smoking prevalence has slowed. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) delivered a national, 3-month antismoking campaign called Tips From Former Smokers (Tips) that started in March, 2012, in which hard-hitting, emotionally evocative television advertising was featured, depicting smoking-related suffering in real people. We aimed to assess the effects of the Tips campaign.
Methods : We undertook baseline and follow-up surveys of nationally representative cohorts of adult smokers and non-smokers. The national effect of the Tips campaign was estimated by applying rates of change in the cohort before and after the campaign to US census data.
Findings : 3 051 smokers and 2 220 non-smokers completed baseline and follow-up assessments. 2 395 (78%) smokers and 1 632 (74%) non-smokers recalled seeing at least one Tips advertisement on television during the 3-month campaign. Quit attempts among smokers rose from 31·1% (95% CI 30·3—31·9) at baseline to 34·8% (34·0—35·7) at follow-up, a 12% relative increase. The prevalence of abstinence at follow-up among smokers who made a quit attempt was 13·4% (95% CI 9·7—17·2). Nationally, an estimated 1·64 million additional smokers made a quit attempt, and 220 000 (95% CI 159 000—282 000) remained abstinent at follow-up. Recommendations by non-smokers to quit grew from 2·6% at baseline to 5·1% at follow-up, and the prevalence of people talking with friends and family about the dangers of smoking rose from 31·9% (95% CI 31·3—32·5) to 35·2% (34·6—35·9), resulting in an estimated 4·7 million additional non-smokers recommending cessation services and more than 6 million talking about the dangers of smoking.
Interpretation : The high-exposure Tips media campaign was effective at increasing population-level quit attempts. The growth in smokers who quit and became sustained quitters could have added from a third to almost half a million quality-adjusted life-years to the US population. Expanded implementation of similar campaigns globally could accelerate progress on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and reduce smoking prevalence globally.
Funding : CDC, US Department of Health and Human Services.
The Lancet , résumé, 2012