Socioeconomic status and quit success in Help Me Quit v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Area-Based Socioeconomic Status, 4 Week Quit Success, and Attrition Rates in the ‘Help Me Quit’ Welsh Smoking Cessation Service – A Retrospective Cohort Study of Participants Accessing the Service 2017 - 2025
IRAS ID
363766
Contact name
Jasmine Kew
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Public Health Wales
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Despite recent declines in the number of people smoking, tobacco smoking remains a leading cause of preventable illness and premature death in Wales. Of particular importance is the continued role that smoking plays in driving health inequalities, particularly in relation to socioeconomic status (SES). Socioeconomic status refers to an individuals access to various social and economic resources and opportunities, with individuals experiencing greater socioeconomic deprivation often having reduced access to these resources/opportunities. Smoking rates and smoking-related health outcomes are significantly worse among those who are more socioeconomically deprived and this has not improved despite the decrease in the number of people smoking. For instance, the number of smoking-related deaths in the population of people living in Wales’s most deprived areas was over three times higher than in the least deprived areas in 2022.
Therefore, services aimed at reducing smoking rates have the potential to reduce these inequalities if they are designed with these socioeconomic inequalities in mind. One such service is Wales’s national smoking cessation service, 'Help Me Quit', which offers evidence-based support to current smokers in Wales who wish to quit - including counselling and medication.
Although these services have been shown to be effective in general, there is currently limited up-to-date evidence on how outcomes from smoking cessation services may differ between those from different socioeconomic groups.
This study will use anonymised data collected previously from all clients who have used the ‘Help Me Quit’ service (2017–2025) to establish whether socioeconomic status is associated with differences in the likelihood of quitting smoking and dropping-out from the Help Me Quit Service (a retrospective cohort study with no client contact).
Establishing if there is an association will be the first crucial step in improving the service to ensure it provides equal opportunities for users from all socioeconomic backgrounds to quit smoking.REC name
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REC reference
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