G Parkes

Dr G Parkes, The Limes Surgery, Hoddesdon, UK; parkesko@hotmail.co.uk

STUDY DESIGN

Design:

randomised controlled trial.

Allocation:

concealed.*

Blinding:

blinded (outcome assessors).*

STUDY QUESTION

Setting:

5 general practices in Hertfordshire, UK.

Patients:

561 current smokers ⩾35 years of age (mean age 53 y, 54% women, mean 17 cigarettes/day, mean 33 pack-years of smoking). Patients who were receiving oxygen or had a history of lung cancer, tuberculosis, asbestosis, silicosis, bronchiectasis, or pneumonectomy were excluded.

Intervention:

all patients had spirometry at baseline to measure forced expiratory volume at 1 second (FEV₁). Patients in the intervention group (n = 280) were immediately given their results verbally and graphically as “lung age” (age of the average healthy person who has an FEV₁ equal to that of the patient); patients in the control group (n = 281) were not told their results …