National No Smoking Day

National No Smoking Day is an annual awareness day that serves as a campaign for greater awareness about the health dangers associated with smoking1. Bedfont® Scientific Ltd. has been helping people stop smoking for over 35 years with their Smokerlyzer® product range, which gives users instant Carbon Monoxide (CO) readings using a motivational traffic light system to guide them towards their quit goal.

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Image Credit: Bedfont Scientific Ltd.

Reports from NHS Stop Smoking Services in England between April 2021 and March 2022 have shown that of 178,198 adults setting a quit date, 54.8% were successful (97,654). And of those successfully quitting, 6.8% (6,640) had their results confirmed with a CO verification². It’s never too late for patients to benefit from stopping smoking, as being a non-smoker or at least reducing the use of cigarettes, can improve the chances of being more physically active and healthier as we get older³.

Out of the over 8 million global deaths related to tobacco each year, over 7 million of those deaths are from direct tobacco use, while 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke⁴. Establishing a patient’s smoking status is a great way in providing them with helpful analysis and guidance throughout their stop smoking journey.

Studies have shown the attitudes that smokers have towards quitting smoking when using a handheld CO monitoring device. One study noted that out of 15.5% of people that were planning on quitting in the next 30 days, 75.3% reported the CO device increased their motivation, with 73.1% reported that seeing their CO levels made them want to quit smoking. Furthermore, after 12 weeks, the number of cigarettes smoked per day decreased by 41.4%⁵.

The Smokerlyzer^® range by Bedfont^® consists of 4 handheld breath analysis monitors, Micro^+™, piCO^baby™, piCO^™, and iCOquit^® – each of which tests the level of CO in a smoker’s blood. High levels of CO in the blood can lead to smoking related diseases such as heart disease, circulation problems and high blood pressure. The onscreen instant results for each monitor, coinciding with the interpretation guide provided, makes understanding results easy and convenient when acknowledging which traffic light system bracket a patient falls underneath.

Visit https://www.bedfont.com/smokerlyzer to learn more about how you can aid patients to stop smoking, one breath at a time, with the Smokerlyzer^® range.

References

1. Twinkl.co.uk. [cited 2023Feb2]. Available from: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/event/no-smoking-day-2023
2. Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England- April 2021 to March 2022 [Internet]. NHS. 2022. [Cited 20^th February 2023]. Available from: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/statistics-on-nhs-stop-smoking-services-in-england/april-2021-to-march-2022
3. Smoking [Internet]. BHF. [cited 2023Feb2]. Available from: https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/risk-factors/smoking
4. Tobacco [Internet]. World Health Organisation. 2022. [Cited 10th February 2023]. Available from: https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco
5. Marler JD, Fujii CA, Wong KS, Galanko JA, Balbierz DJ, and Utley DS. Assessment of a personal interactive carbon monoxide breath sensor in people who smoke cigarettes: single-arm cohort study. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2020;22(10):1-24. DOI: 10.2196/22811.