Years after a quit clinic, most older smokers who still smoke want to try again

Design

Retrospective cohort with single long-term telephone follow-up

Population

297 adults aged ≥60 who attended a smoking cessation clinic in Türkiye (97 interviewed)

Primary outcome

Self-reported current smoking status 4.6–9.8 years later

Effect

36.1% of respondents not smoking; 80.6% of current smokers willing to try again

This Turkish study identified 297 adults aged 60 and over who attended a smoking cessation clinic between 2015 and 2020, and telephoned them in 2024, 4.6 to 9.8 years later. Twenty-six had died; 97 of the remaining 271 were reached.

Of those reached, 36% said they were not smoking. Because most of the cohort could not be contacted, the true figure could lie anywhere between 13% and 77%. No treatment approach was reliably associated with long-term abstinence. Of the 62 still smoking, 81% said they would accept support for another attempt.

The abstinence estimate is too uncertain to use. The useful finding is the last one: older people who have tried and relapsed are not a lost cause, and most are willing to be asked again.

• Ask every older smoker about quitting at each visit, including those who have failed before.
• Offer pharmacotherapy — nicotine replacement or varenicline — which is effective in older adults.
• Record previous attempts and what helped, so the next attempt builds on them.
• Relapse is the norm; treat smoking as a chronic relapsing condition.

Why it matters

It challenges the assumption that older smokers who have failed a quit attempt do not want to try again.

Don't overread it

With two-thirds of the cohort unreachable, the 36% abstinence figure is not a reliable quit rate.

The statistics, in plain English

The range of 13–77% shows what happens when you assume all non-responders either smoke or do not — a gap that wide means the respondent-only figure cannot be generalised.

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