PHS Issues Treatment Guidelines for Tobacco Dependency

WASHINGTON—The US Public Health Service (PHS) has released “Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: A Clinical Practice Guideline,” which offers trial-based data on first- and second-line therapies to help smokers quit.

A nongovernment panel of experts compiled the publication. The guideline stresses that treatments are both clinically effective and cost-effective, and urges health insurers to cover tobacco-dependency therapies identified in the guideline. For copies, call 1-800-358-9295 or go to http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/default.htm.