It is possible to improve the quality of life of heavy smokers: this is what emerged from the round table “Is it possible to positively change the lifestyles of adult smokers? – Make It Happen’, hosted within the scientific congress ‘In the Heart of Santa‘ in Santa Margherita Ligure (Ge). Now in its fourteenth edition, the congress is dedicated to comparison between cardiologists and general practitioners on various medical and scientific topics, through interactive round tables.
In the course of the debate, the importance of innovative products such as e-cigs and tobacco heaters emerged, as well as smoking cessation as the most suitable therapeutic pathway, which represent valid alternatives to traditional cigarettes with a view to reducing the risk for those adult smokers who cannot stop smoking. On stage the cardiologist Luigi Collarini, the economist Antonio Pelliccia and the psychologist Martina Gangale; moderator the general practitioner and congress coordinator, Roberto Pescatori.
“No alternative strategies for smoking reduction they are certainly effective – is Pescatori’s comment – also because the family doctor has little time and possibilities to understand if the patient is really motivated to stop smoking. Since in Italy we have 24.1% of smokers, and only 0.1% of these rely on anti-smoking centres, it is the local doctors who have to take charge of primary and secondary prevention and try to use alternative strategies that do not the combustion. Only by trying to create feeling, communication with the patient, understanding their motivations – continues Pescatori – can we be able to motivate him to quit smoking: either by making him stop, which remains the main objective, or, if this is impossible, using alternative methods that do not involve combustion”.
“E’ independent scientific research is needed and new technologies can be a stimulus in this sense – says Luigi Collarini, professor of cardiorespiratory pathophysiology at the University of Lugano – meanwhile the preliminary data seem to demonstrate that the THS22 technology leads to a reduction of histochemical-biological alterations in the vessels and in atherosclerotic-type processes. It is yet to be demonstrated, but certainly the introduction of this methodology of smoking, which can represent a sort of transition for those who are unable to get out of addiction. Obviously, the ideal would be to stop smoking, and we are all in agreement on this – continues Collarini – but it is direct experience, for example, to have found that many patients who switch to this type of tobacco consumption report an improvement in general conditions such as breathing, coughing and tone of voice”.
“Il the process of cessation is not based on the patient’s conviction but on a profound analysis of his will and motivation to approach cessation – explains the psychologist Martina Gangale -. The new protocols and guidelines come to our aid in trying to help him along his path, but today there are also alternative tools in our favor: for example nicotine substitutes, but also alternatives to burnt tobacco, such as heated tobacco systems, which being available, quick to access and simple, they can represent a valid alternative to bring patients closer to a process of change”, he concludes.
“One of the topics we can focus on is the economic aspect – says Antonio Pelliccia, Agostino Gemelli professor of Economics and Business Organization at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Rome -. As an economist I can say that the part relating to pathologies related to smoking has a cost: for the organization, for all of us, for the patient. So it can be said that smokers actually pay more. From an economic point of view, however, there are alternatives. The neuroscientific aspect plays an important role in our decision-making process, in shaping our behavior even at a psychological level – continues Pelliccia – The economic part is a consequence, like the therapeutic part, but it is the material part of this issue. Changing the product, in a sense, is like quitting smoking: in practice, the smoker maintains a behavior similar to what he had before, but the incidence is decidedly lower than before “, she concludes.