Over a fifth of people who contacted the National Smokers' Quitline had achieved the success of not having had a cigarette for an average of a year, the Irish Cancer Society said yesterday.
To mark the first anniversary of the workplace smoking ban yesterday, the society announced results of an evaluation carried out this month of the quitline which is run in partnership with the Health Promotion Unit at the Department of Health.
The evaluation was a follow up to an original survey in August 2004, which showed that of the 19,800 smokers who contacted the quitline between October 2003 and March 2004, 7,000 - or 33 per cent - had managed to quit.
The evaluation this month revealed that of the 7,000 people who managed to quit, 4,350 - approximately 22 per cent - had achieved the success of not having had a cigarette for an average of one year.
Results of the latest evaluation also showed that the key factors in helping people to quit in rank order included willpower, health reasons, nicotine replacement patches and the quitline.
In addition, 60 per cent of those who did manage to quit claimed the quitline was either a "significant" or an "important aspect" in helping them stay off cigarettes, the survey said.
Of those who did not manage to stay off the cigarettes, there had been a significant reduction in the number of cigarettes consumed. In the original August 2004 survey, those who had been smoking on average 20 per day were now smoking 12 cigarettes a day.
The cancer society said that encouragingly, 99 per cent of non-quitters claimed they would try to quit again, about half within the next two to three months.
Commenting on the results of the evaluation, Norma Cronin, the cancer society's health promotion manager, tobacco control, said: "We are delighted with the on-going success of the National Smokers' Quitline. For many smokers it takes a number of attempts before they succeed in quitting."
However, she said, there had never been a better time to quit with a range of comprehensive smoking cessation services on offer from the Irish Cancer Society, the Health Services Executive, general practitioners and pharmacists. "We encourage all smokers who haven't succeeded to try again and seek support from the National Smokers' Quitline," she added.
In the Republic of Ireland, 6,000 people died each year from tobacco-related diseases. Smoking was the single most important preventable cause of cancer and was responsible for 30 per cent of all cancers.
Quitting smoking was the single most important step smokers could take to improve their health and quality of life, the cancer society said.