Budgetary impact analysis on funding smoking-cessation drugs in patients with COPD in Spain.

The aim of the study was to assess the budgetary impact of funding smoking-cessation drugs in COPD patients in Spain. A hybrid model (cohort and Markov) was developed for a 5-year time horizon. Only approved cessation drugs (varenicline, bupropion, and nicotine replacement therapy) were considered.

Association of a novel polymorphism of the β2-chimaerin gene (CHN2) with smoking.

Objective: The CHN2 gene encodes the β2-chimaerin, a Rac-specific guanosine-5'-triphosphatase activating protein with an important role in the establishment of functional brain circuitry by controlling axon pruning. Genetic studies suggest that the CHN2 gene harbors variants that contribute to addiction vulnerability and smoking behavior. To further evaluate the role of β2-chimaerin in nicotine addiction, we investigated the association of 3 individual polymorphisms of the CHN2 gene with smoking dependence.

Usefulness of the LCOPD, CAFS and CASIS scales in understanding the impact of COPD on patients.

Background: The Living with COPD (LCOPD), COPD and Asthma Fatigue Scale (CAFS), and COPD and Asthma Sleep Impact Scale (CASIS) are instruments developed to assess the overall impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on daily life, fatigue, and sleep impairment, respectively.

Objectives: To assess the usefulness of these instruments and to identify factors associated with the concepts they measure.

Method: The questionnaires were administered to patients with moderate to severe COPD.

[The cinema as a vector of expansion of the smoking epidemic].

For many years the film industry has been a loyal contributor to the tobacco industry by showing actors smoking cigarettes onscreen and hence encouraging young people to become nicotine addicts. The Prevention of Nicotine Addiction movement in the United States has adequately documented this phenomenon and there is now sufficient scientific evidence to demonstrate the close relationship between smoking in films and the onset of smoking in adolescents and young adults. To encourage social debate, working groups have been created to put pressure on the film industry through the use of commercials in mainstream media in the hope of making Hollywood accept its responsibility and change its attitude.

[Benefit of brief interventions and pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation in teenagers].

Management of smoking includes approaches such as health advice against smoking, brief or intensive interventions, and pharmacotherapy. However, we do not have enough information on the use of such approaches in teenagers. School programs aimed at children and adolescents are perhaps the most widely used intervention and the one for which we have the most experience.

Adverse effects of pharmacological therapy for nicotine addiction in smokers following a smoking cessation program.

This multicenter, community-based, prospective, longitudinal study evaluated the safety of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), bupropion, and combined therapy of NRT and bupropion for smokers seeking to quit, when these therapies were used under real-world conditions following a smoking cessation program. Participants were smokers aged 18 years or older who attended five smoking cessation clinics. Evaluations were made at 15, 30, 60, and 90 days.

The participation of health professionals in a smoking-cessation programme positively influences the smoking cessation advice given to patients.

This study assessed the degree of smoking cessation advice given by health professionals, before and after their participation in a smoking cessation study using bupropion-sustained release (bupropion SR, Zyban). A total of 690 physicians and nurses who had smoked an average of 10 cigarettes/day over the previous year and were motivated to quit smoking, were randomised in a double-blind manner to receive bupropion SR (days 1-3, 150 mg/day; days 4-49, 150 mg twice daily) or placebo for 7 weeks, with follow-up to week 52. All subjects received regular follow-up and brief motivational support throughout the study.

[Veracity of smokers' reports of abstinence at smoking cessation clinics].

Objective: To assess the reliability of smokers' response as criteria for measuring abstinence and the necessity or not of confirming abstinence with carbon monoxide (CO) measurement.

Patients And Methods: A multicenter, prospective, longitudinal study was carried out on patients over 18 years of age from 5 smoking cessation clinics who underwent treatment with nicotine or bupropion. When the patient attended the clinic at 15, 30, 60, 90, and 180 days, abstinence was checked by self-reporting and expired-air CO levels.

[Genetic basis of tobacco dependence].

Dependence on tobacco is one of the most important health problems in our society due to the direct relationship with lung cancer. Early studies in twins revealed that genetic factors modify the susceptibility to develop tobacco dependence. Different studies are underway to try to find an association between polymorphisms of genes involved either in nicotine metabolization or in neural transmission and the initiation and maintenance of the dependence on tobacco.

[Smoking habits among sixth-year medical students in Spain].

Objective: To describe and analyze the smoking habits of sixth-year Spanish medical students.

Material And Methods: The target population of this descriptive cross-sectional study was students completing their sixth year in Spanish medical schools. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was sent to the students' homes by ordinary mail.

[Delays in the diagnosis of lung cancer].

Objective: To study the clinical and demographic factors associated with delays in the diagnosis of lung cancer.

Patients And Methods: A 2-year prospective study of patients admitted to the respiratory medicine ward with a suspected diagnosis of lung cancer. We studied demographic factors, health care received, place of residence, and delays in carrying out diagnostic procedures.

[Smoking cessation in primary and specialized care: a real opportunity and a public health necessity].

Aim: To determine whether primary care provides a suitable framework for integrated treatment aimed at smoking cessation with systematic minimal intervention or pharmacological treatment with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). To compare the results with those obtained in a specialized pneumology unit.

Design: Prospective, quasi-experimental study.

[Two-month results are predictors of outcome in a smoking cessation program].

Background: The supportive smoking cessation counseling (SSCC) and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) have been proved to be an effective aid to smoking cessation. The aim of this study was to determine whether the results obtained in a two-month treatment program to helping smokers quit by means of supporting smoking cessation counseling or nicotine replacement therapy included in the routine medical care, can be considered as predictors of success in the long term (one year).

Subjects And Method: A longitudinal and prospective study has been carried out, being included in the program all smoker patients who went a primary or specialist unit (n = 357) during a six-month term.

[The physician and the patient in the decision to quit smoking. Effect of the initiative on the result of the intervention].

Introduction: The results obtained from treatment of smoking addiction are not all that might be desired, such that continued investigation of the various factors that determine treatment success or failure are necessary. The aim of this study was to know the influence of health care providers in the smoking cessation process.

Material And Methods: We performed a prospective, longitudinal study of patients at a primary care facility and a specialized unit.

[The self-efficacy of school principals and their influence on smoking prevention at school].

Introduction: Self-efficacy is a psychological variable that has scarcely been taken into account in approaches to smoking prevention among young people. The self-efficacy of school principals may play a role in schools that truly comply with their mission of preventing or limiting the influence of smoking among students.

Objective: To know the degree to which self-efficacy of school principals influences behavior toward smoking in their schools, assessed as attitude of students toward smoking, the degree of compliance with official anti-smoking laws and the content of anti-smoking campaigns undertaken.

[Lesions of the central nervous system in Adams-Oliver's syndrome].

The authors report two cases of Adams-Oliver syndrome in 2-year-old children characterized by aplasia cutis congenita and terminal congenital abnormalities of the limbs. The diagnosis was made at birth and the aplasia cutis was associated with extensive skull defects, exposing the dural sinuses. The differences between the two patients were essentially the extension and the severity of the scalp and limb osteo-cutaneous lesions, associated malformations of the central nervous system and complications.

[Extent of law compliance and anti-smoking teaching at Spanish schools].

Objective: Knowing the degree of fulfillment of the anti tobacco legislation in Spanish schools and the influence that this has on the percentage of smoking pupils.

Material And Methods: A survey was carried out among 3050 headmasters of Spanish schools, who were asked about different aspects of the fulfillment of the antitobacco laws in their schools and about the main characteristics of tobacco consumption in their centers.

Results: A 80.