Ex-Smokers Have Few Proven Weapons Against Relapse, Weight Gain

President Barack Obama has pledged to keep the White House a "smoke-free zone," despite his admitted struggles with tobacco relapse.

For former smokers like Obama, kicking the habit can prove incredibly difficult, and here is a new blow for abstainers: a large review of studies concludes that programs designed to help former smokers often fail to improve long-term quit rates.

Although interventions designed to help former smokers avoid relapse frequently focus on teaching skills for dealing with temptation, there is no evidence that this strategy works, said Peter Hajek, Ph.D., a co-author of the review.

Hajek, a professor of clinical psychology and director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at the University of London, and colleagues reviewed 54 studies of more than 44,000 patients that evaluated the effectiveness of behavioral and pharmacological interventions in preventing relapse in ex-smokers.

The majority of the studies took place in the United States.