Smokers are better able to quit if they’re offered financial incentives for their efforts. Overall, smokers had up to a 54% better chance at kicking the habit if their quit program offered them cash or vouchers as a reward, researchers found in a new evidence review published Jan. 13 in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. These incentives made even more of an impression on pregnant smokers, who were more than twice as likely to quit long-term if provided rewards, the review says. “Smoking is the leading preventable cause of ill health and early death worldwide, and quitting smoking is vitally important to help people live in good health for longer,” lead researcher Caitlin Notley, professor of addiction sciences at University of East Anglia’s Norwich Medical School, said in a news release. “We are now very confident that incentives help people, and pregnant people too, to quit smoking better than not offering incentives,” Notley added. Up to now, the evidence regarding financial incentives for quitting smoking hasn’t been solid, researchers noted. But an evaluation of 47 previous studies, including 14 newer papers, “found high-certainty evidence this time that indeed they help people who are pregnant quit smoking and stay quit,” senior researcher Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy and promotion with the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, said…  read on >  read on >

All women 65 and older should continue to be screened for osteoporosis, the nation’s leading preventive health panel says in an updated recommendation. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force also recommends screening women younger than 65 who’ve gone through menopause and are at increased risk of a fracture from bone loss, according to the updated guidelines published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Too often, the first sign of osteoporosis is a broken bone, which can lead to serious health issues,” USPSTF member Dr. Esa Davis said in a statement from the group. “The good news is that for women 65 years or older, as well as younger women at increased risk, screening can detect osteoporosis early—before fractures happen—helping women maintain their health, independence, and quality of life,” added Davis, senior associate dean of population and community medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Osteoporosis happens as people grow older and their bones lose the ability to regrow and replenish themselves. As bones become thinner and less dense, the risk of a bone fracture grows worse. Bones most commonly broken due to osteoporosis include the hips, wrists and spine, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The updated guideline for women is consistent with earlier versions issued in 2018 and 2011. The USPSTF regularly reviews each of its screening guidelines, to make sure…  read on >  read on >

It takes a village to help a smoker quit. And a new study published recently in JAMA Internal Medicine shows that smokers had a nearly doubled success rate quitting when supported by an integrated approach that included medication and personal counseling. “Our study demonstrates that providing access to effective medications and trained tobacco cessation specialists offers the greatest chance at successfully quitting and, hopefully, avoiding the potential of lung cancer,” principal investigator Paul Cinciripini, executive director of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Tobacco Research and Treatment Program, said in a news release from the college. Lung cancer is the top cancer killer in the U.S., accounting for one in five cancer-related deaths, researchers said in background notes. Tobacco use is responsible for 85% of lung cancer cases and contributes to nearly 30% of all cancer-related deaths, researchers added. The average smoker requires several attempts before they’re able to break their nicotine addiction and quit, researchers said. For this study, researchers recruited a group of 630 smokers between 2017 and 2021. The smokers were at least 50, and smoked an average 20 cigarettes a day. The smokers were randomly assigned to one of three groups, each containing 210 people. One group was provided nicotine replacement therapy or medication and access to phone-based support. The second received the same, only prescribed by a lung…  read on >  read on >