Smoking cessation and receipt of cessation advice from health professionals among older smokers in Taiwan

Objectives To examine the prevalence and correlates of smoking cessation and receiving professional cessation advice among older smokers in Taiwan. Methods Cross-sectional data from the 2008–2010 and 2012 Taiwan Adult Smoking Behavior Survey was used to form a sample of 4081 recent active smokers aged 50 +, comprising current smokers and former smokers who quit smoking within the past 12 months. We examined three outcome variables: quit attempt in the past 12 months, successful cessation for at least 3 months, and receipt of health professional cessation advice. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to identify significant correlates. Results During the study period, the annual quit attempt rate was 41.4%, annual successful cessation rate was 4.7%, and prevalence of receiving cession advice among smokers who visited health professionals within the past 12 months was 72.3%. After controlling for other covariates, quit attempts were significantly higher in 2009 and positively associated with higher education, poorer health status, smoke-free homes, and receipt of cessation advice. Successful cessation was significantly higher in 2009, positively associated with older age, higher income, and smoke-free homes, and negatively associated with receiving cessation advice. Receipt of cessation advice was significantly lower in 2010 and 2012, positively associated with male gender, older age, and poorer health status, and negatively associated with higher education. Conclusions Our results suggest that targeting lower educated and lower income subgroups, adopting effective strategies to increase voluntary smoke-free home rules, and improving professional cessation advice will have great potential to further reduce smoking prevalence in older smokers.