Quitting behaviour of cigarette smokers : are there direct effects of a screening program?

This paper aims at i) providing effect estimates of a wide range of covariates and traditional policy means to increase the smoking cessation rate, ii) offering evidence on alternative interventions for health authorities, and iii) examining and comparing three groups of smokers with varying lengths of their smoking career (including one group that has smoked ≥ 25 years). All smokers have been subject to a three-wave cardiovascular screening and followed up over a maximum of 14 years. This rich panel data set has been merged with administrative registers. A flexible discrete-time duration model is used to examine the effect of 5 categories of explanatory variables: personal characteristics; indicators of addiction status; economic factors; health and health shock variables; governmental interventions. Most covariates differ across groups, but for all groups did the screening participation years stand out as important. Possible policy implications for future cessation interventions are discussed. -- Smoking behaviour ; Cigarette cessation ; Duration model ; Quitting hazard ; Long-term smokers ; Health status and shocks ; Screening ; Policy intervention ; Panel data