Individual change in behaviour has the potential to decrease the burden of chronic disease due to smoking, diet
and low physical activity.
Smoking quit rates can be increased by simple advice from a physician or trained counsellor, overall and in people
at high risk of smoking related disease, with low intensity advice as effective as high intensity advice.
Advice from a nurse, telephone counselling, individualised self help materials and taking exercise may also be
beneficial.
Training health professionals increases the frequency of offering antismoking interventions but may not increase
their effectiveness.
Nicotine replacement therapy, bupropion and nortriptyline may improve short term quit rates as part of smoking
cessation strategies.
Moclobemide, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, anxiolytics and acupuncture have not been shown to be
beneficial.
Smoking cessation programmes increase quit rates in pregnant women, but nicotine patches may not be beneficial
compared with placebo.
Physical activity in sedentary people may be increased by counselling, with input from exercise specialists possibly
being more effective than physicians, in women over 80 years and in younger adults.
Advice on eating a low cholesterol diet leads to a mean 0.2 to 0.3 mmol/L decrease in blood cholesterol concentration
in the long term, but no consistent effect of this on morbidity or mortality has been shown.
Intensive interventions to reduce sodium intake lead to small decreases in blood pressure, but may not reduce
morbidity or mortality.
Advice to lose weight leads to greater weight loss than no advice, and cognitive behavioural therapy may be
more effective than dietary advice
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