An Internet-based program that provided tailored feedback on multiple occasions to smokers trying to quit proved to be more cost effective than usual care consisting of nurse interventions, according to research recently published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Usual care, however, tended to result in better quality of life outcomes for patients, according to the study's authors.
For the study, researchers based in the Netherlands recruited 414 smokers, who then were divided into three groups: one that received tailored feedback on multiple occasions, as well as in-person counseling; a second that received only the tailored feedback; and a third group that received only usual, in-person care.
According to the researchers, participants in the first group reported "significantly more" costs than those in the usual care group
"To ease the interpretation of cost-effectiveness results, future research should aim at identifying an acceptable cutoff point for the willingness to pay per abstinent participant," the researchers said. Study