Assessment of the smoker who wants to quit.

This paper describes assessments that can be useful when giving smokers help to stop. The assessments discussed are: motivation, amount smoked, dependence, lung function, carbon monoxide (CO), earlier cessation experience, knowledge of nicotine's role, comorbidity, body weight, vital signs and cardiovascular risk factors. The rationale for each assessment is given. The most important factors to assess are probably motivation, dependency and CO in expired air.