'Buddy system' works for quitting smoking, study finds

Last update: May 22, 2008 - 7:58 AM

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The urge to smoke is contagious, but quitting apparently is, too. A team of researchers who showed obesity can spread person-to-person has found a similar pattern with smoking cessation: A smoker is more likely to kick the habit if a spouse, friend, co-worker or sibling did as well.

What's more, smokers tend to quit in groups and those who don't stop puffing increasingly find themselves pushed to the edge of their social circles, the researchers found.

"Your smoking behavior depends upon not just the smoking behavior of the people you know, but also the people who they know" and so on, said Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a medical sociologist at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the report.

The findings back up previous studies showing that peer influence plays a key role in people's decision to stop lighting up and provide evidence that the "buddy system" used by smoking cessation, weight loss and alcoholism programs to change addictive behavior works.

The study appears in today's New England Journal of Medicine and is funded by the National Institute on Aging.

ANTI-SMOKING DRUG BANNED FOR PILOTS

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday banned pilots and air traffic controllers from using a popular anti-smoking drug after a study found that it had apparently contributed to auto accidents and other mishaps that posed risks to both users and others.

The drug, marketed as Chantix, has been hailed as an innovative treatment to help smokers quit. But a study by a medical safety group -- also issued Wednesday -- linked it to unusual and serious side effects, including loss of consciousness and seizures, and prompted the FAA to act, said spokesman Les Dorr.

The aviation agency had approved the drug last summer, before federal safety regulators began investigating reports of serious psychiatric problems, including suicidal behavior, sharp shifts in mood and vivid nighttime dreamlike episodes.

A new warning came from a report by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. It was based on an analysis of "adverse events" reports submitted to the Food and Drug Administration.

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