Helping parents to stop smoking: which interventions are effective?

Parental smoking increases children's risk of respiratory illness. Encouraging parents not to smoke in the home helps, but stopping smoking altogether is more effective in reducing children's exposure. The prevalence of smoking increases with higher levels of social disadvantage and is therefore a major contributor to widening inequalities in health. Randomised trials have shown that adults can be helped to stop with simple advice from health professionals, behavioural support, nicotine replacement and antidepressants.