"My GP cares enough about the fact that I am smoking to send me a letter. This has made me think again about the effects it is having on my health," say smokers in a new study.

The research shows that linking two smoking cessation approaches - a personalised advice letter from a patient's GP and a voucher for a month's nicotine gum, appeared to prompt an increase in quit attempts.

GPs involved in the study - involving 831 patients from general practices in Auckland - were also very positive about the strategy. Research team member Marewa Glover of the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland described the research published this week in the latest Journal of Primary Health Care (JPHC), as "A strategy that shows promise as a simple way to increase the number of smokers making supported quit attempts through primary care." She also noted the need for further testing in a randomised trial.

Despite considerable progress in tobacco control, more than one in five New Zealanders still smoke tobacco regularly and smoking prevalence is much higher for Pacific peoples (28%) and Maori (44%).

ABOUT THE JOURNAL OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

The Journal of Primary Health Care (JPHC) aims to disseminate useable research for New Zealand primary care. JPHC Editor Felicity Goodyear-Smith said: "This smoking cessation research is a good example of research that has the potential to be moved into practice in New Zealand primary care to improve health care delivery." The JPHC is a peer reviewed, quarterly scientific journal published by the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.