Survival Analysis of Risk Factors for Smoking Relapse in Smoking Cessation Clinic of Public Health Center

The purpose of this study was to identify the critical period of smoking relapse onset and risk factors of smoking relapse during 18 weeks post quit among 6 weeks quitters in smoking cessation clinic of public health center. The 433 initial quitters were included in the analysis. Using SPSS/WIN 12.0 program, Kaplan-Meier analysis, Cox proportional hazards models were performed to answer the research questions. Forty-two percent of the initial quitters relapsed during 18 weeks post quit, about a half of them(20.5%) relapsed within the first 4 weeks and the vast majority of relapse(85.1%) occurred within 12 weeks. The risk factors for smoking relapse were smoking cessation treatment type, number of counseling, number of current smoked daily. This results would be useful for choosing the optimal time for post cessation services within 18 weeks and targeting initial quitters who are at high risk for relapse of smoking cessation clinic.