Online, computer smoking cessation helpful

BERKELEY, Calif., May 26 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say their meta-analysis of studies found those who used online or computer-based smoking cessation programs were more likely to succeed.

Dr. Seung-Kwon Myung, formerly of the University of California in Berkeley and now at the National Cancer Center in Goyang, South Korea, and colleagues identified 22 randomized controlled trials of Web- and computer-based smoking cessation programs published from 1989 to 2008.

The trials included a total of 29,549 participants, 16,050 of whom were randomly assigned to a computer-based program and 13,499 to a control group.

Ten studies used supplemental interventions such as counseling, classroom lessons, nicotine replacement gum or patches, medication or quit lines, while 12 studies used Web- or computer-based programs alone.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that when the results of the trials were pooled and analyzed, individuals assigned to use computer- or Web-based programs were about 1.5 times more likely to quit smoking than those assigned to control groups.