Effectiveness of counselling for tobacco cessation at the time of pre anaesthetic check up

Introduction: The number of tobacco users in our country is frightening and hence forth every possible intervention shall be used to try controlling the demon of tobacco. Every visit to hospital either as outdoor or admission shall be treated as an opportunity for tobacco cessation. In our study, we have tried to assess the utility and effectiveness of counselling at the time of pre anaesthesia check-up in patients undergoing elective surgeries as a tool for tobacco cessation. Materials and Methods: Two groups were made on the basis of whether intervention given in form of counselling at time of routine PAC for patients undergoing elective surgery. Both groups were assessed for various demographical characteristics, including nicotine dependence, quitting history. Group 1 was given a session of interactive counselling regarding ill effects of tobacco usage and provided access a helpline number of institutional tobacco cessation clinic. Six months after intervention and surgery, both groups were questioned about their smoking status and statistical methods were used to calculate the difference of outcomes, namely tobacco cessation and decrease in tobacco usage. Result and Discussion: The current study brought forth the fact that smokers or SLT users who are motivated or volunteers to take participation in cessation programme are more likely to successfully abstain from smoking. Age, Gender and educational status are major determinants in outcome of any tobacco cessation programme. The timing of counselling also plays a vital role in success of any counselling session. Hence forth, it is highly advisable to use this golden opportunity for counselling and advising the patient to abstain from using tobacco in any form. Introduction India is unique in a sense to harbour the maximum number of tobacco users in the world. Tobacco usage is so engrained in our society that it is accepted and not taken as an evil habit as per the GATS (Global Adult Tobacco Survey 201617) 42.4% of men, 14.2% of women and 28.6% (266.8 million) of all adults currently use tobacco (smoked and/or smokeless tobacco). Out of these 19.0% of men, 2.0% of women and 10.7% (99.5 million) of all adults smoke tobacco either in popular form as cigarette or indianised form as beedi or other indigenous methods of smoking tobacco like hookah, burning tendu leaves. Malson et al concluded in their study that Beedi contain higher concentration of nicotine than conventional cigarettes. Another aspect of tobacco usage more common in rural areas is usage of smokeless tobacco and data is equally discouraging for smokeless tobacco also 29.6% of men, 12.8% of women and 21.4% (199.4 million) of all adults currently use smokeless tobacco. The number of tobacco users in our country is frightening and hence forth every possible intervention shall be used to try controlling the demon of tobacco. Every visit to hospital either as outdoor or admission shall be treated as an opportunity for tobacco cessation. In our study, we have tried to assess the utility and effectiveness of counselling at the time of pre anaesthesia check-up as a tool for tobacco cessation. A cohort study was designed with two comparison groups. One group comprised of patients willing to undergo tobacco cessation intervention at time of PAC, whereas second group refused for same. The current study was an attempt to apprise the physicians and clinicians the value of every possible window during hospital stay for tobacco cessation. We focussed on PAC as an opportunity for counselling to abstain from smoking.