Cell Phone Text Messages Aid in Smoking Cessation

Cell phones — now in the hands of more than two thirds of the world's population — potentially can help change patients' behavior. In a randomized U.K. study, researchers assessed whether automated cell phone text messages could help people quit smoking.

Investigators enrolled 5800 adult smokers who were willing to make quit attempts; participants received text messages that encouraged smoking cessation (the txt2stop program) or were unrelated to quitting (control). Txt2stop messages were scheduled according to each patient's planned quit date and customized to specific patient characteristics and concerns. Txt2stop patients were able to text “crave” and receive messages to help them resist cravings for cigarettes, or “lapse” to receive mess…