Introduction: Smoking reduction (SR) has been introduced as a strategy for smokers who are unwilling or unable to quit. We wanted to investi tigate whether SR at one-year follow-up increased the probability of abstinence from smoking at three and five-year follow-up. Methods: we included a random sample from a general population, the Inter99 study, Copenhagen, Denmark. A total of 1975 participants were daily smokers (from both the intervention and the control group) with information on tobacco consumption at both baseline and one-year follow-up (year 1999 to 2001). Of these, 112 had reduced their tobacco consumption substantially, by minimum 50%, at one-year follow-up. Information on tobacco consumption and smoking status was available on 1441 and 1308 participants at three-year and five-year follow-up, respectively. Outcome was self-reported point abstinence at three and five-year follow-up. Logistic regression analyses were adjusted for confounders. Results: One out of five smokers (20.5%) had maintained their reduced tobacco consumption at five-year follow-up. About twice as many reducers as non-reducers reported that they had tried to quit since baseline (p < 0.05). In adjusted logistic regression analyses we found no association between SR at one-year follow- up and being point abstinent at three-year (OR: 0.57;CI: 0.28 - 1.15) or five-year follow-up (OR: 1.08;CI: 0.56 - 2.09). Conclusions: Our study, including smokers from a general population found no association between substantial SR and future smoking cessation at three- and five-year follow-up. No studies so far have reported that SR undermines smoking cessation, but it is still controversial whether SR significantly increases future smoking cessation.
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