Stop smoking support alongside lung screening could save lives

Offering stop smoking support alongside the new national lung screening programme has the potential to save lives, according to new research.

A study funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research and published in the European Respiratory Journal has found that providing specialist stop smoking support at the same time and in the same place as lung screening is an effective way to help people quit for good.

Evidence from the Yorkshire Stop Smoking Study, led by researchers at the University of Nottingham, demonstrates that people are highly likely to take up the offer of support and quit smoking as a result, and that an integrated service could save lives and address health inequalities by preventing lung cancer and other smoking-related illnesses.

Analysis by Yorkshire Cancer Research has found that, stop smoking support offered alongside lung health checks could save up to 5,500 years of life in England for those newly eligible each year, by preventing lung cancer and increasing life expectancy. Many more lives could be saved through the prevention of other smoking-related illnesses and by offering support to those who smoke but are not eligible for lung screening.

Despite this, the government has not included specific funding for stop smoking services within its planned rollout of lung screening across England. Yorkshire Cancer Research is now urging local authorities to ensure stop smoking support is integrated within lung screening programmes by allocating dedicated funding.

As part of the Yorkshire Stop Smoking Study, researchers offered 2,150 people who attended the Leeds Lung Health Check and reported currently smoking, the opportunity to speak with a specialist stop smoking advisor.  

Nine in 10 people accepted the offer, and three quarters chose to accept ongoing weekly support. Participation in the support programme was the same across characteristics including age, ethnicity, deprivation and level of education.

Overall, 323 people reported not smoking at four weeks (15% of all those attending screening who were eligible to receive stop smoking support), with 266 of these people providing a breath sample that showed they had stopped smoking.

The research was led by Professor Rachael Murray in the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham and was carried out as part of the Yorkshire Cancer Research-funded Leeds Lung Health Check, led by Professor Matthew Callister and delivered in partnership with Leeds Teaching Hospitals and the University of Leeds.

The national lung screening programme is expected to be rolled out across the country by 2030. It is estimated that 325,000 people will be newly eligible for lung screening each year, with 106,000 of these people currently smoking.

Yorkshire Cancer Research estimates that of those newly eligible for screening each year, 15,400 could quit smoking through the programme.

Yorkshire Cancer Research is funding research and services across the region to both help people quit and find new ways to increase the number of people who stop smoking, including working in hospitals to provide bedside support to patients who smoke. The charity pioneered the delivery of stop smoking support alongside lung health checks and provided evidence to help shape the new NHS lung screening programme announced last year.