NHS stop smoking services in England helped over 100,000 people set a quit date and more than 50,000 give up the habit at the four-week follow-up point during a six-month period last year, official data has revealed.

Between April 2018 and September 2018, 111,960 people set a quit date and 56,804 stopped smoking, with carbon monoxide verification providing the results for 71% of those who quit according to NHS Digital.

Successful quit attempts increased with age, with 56% of those 60 and over compared with 36% of those under 18 quitting, while Yorkshire and the Humber had the highest proportion of successful quitters at 60%. The South West had the lowest with 44%.

Some 46% of pregnant women who set a quit date successfully kicked the habit and 37% of smokers accessed a stop smoking service in the community, with 34% using a service at their GP practice.

The data also revealed that 80% of smokers used one-to-one support to quit and the most common pharmacotherapy was a combination of licensed nicotine-containing products taken concurrently.

Picture: PredragImages (iStock)