Attitudes and influencing factors associated with smoking cessation: An online cross-sectional survey in China.

INTRODUCTION: Quitting smoking, the critical path to reach the global targets of reducing tobacco use, can bring major and immediate health benefits to smokers. Exploring factors that help individuals to quit smoking is of great importance. The present study explored influencing factors on smoking cessation, in order to provide comprehensive reference for tobacco control policies. METHODS: Ex-smokers and current smokers were recruited online in this cross-sectional survey, from 1 October to 31 November 2022, in China. The observational data were collected using a questionnaire to collect information with respect to sociodemographic characteristics of smokers, attitudes towards smoking cessation, details of smoking cessation, and different potential factors related to smoking cessation through open-ended questions. RESULTS: A total of 638 smokers from 30 provinces were recruited as eligible respondents, with a mean age of 37.3 ± 11.7 years and a mean smoking history of 15.9 ± 13.7 years. The percentage of males was 92.3%. Of the 638 respondents, only 3.9% had no intention to stop smoking. Among 155 subjects who had quitted smoking successfully, willpower (55.5%) was considered as the most important contributing factor. Among 365 subjects who tried to quit but failed, lack of willpower (28.2%), tobacco dependence (16.2%), influence of surrounding smokers or smoking environments (15.9%), bad moods (9.9%), stress from work or life (7.9%), habits (7.1%), socialization (4.1%), and easy availability of tobacco (2.7%) were considered as the adverse factors leading to failure in quitting smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Willpower and support from family members were the vital factors that lead to successful smoking cessation. Future tobacco control policies should also focus on addressing withdrawal symptoms and creating smoke-free environments as well as other factors.

Sini decoction as an adjuvant therapy for angina pectoris: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically assess the effects and safety of Sini decoction as an adjuvant therapy for patients with angina pectoris. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Excerpt Medica Database, the Cochrane library, Wanfang Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, China Science and Technology Journal Database from the date of its inception until August 1, in 2014. Available literatures were selected according to the inclusion criteria. Two reviewers finished data extraction, checked the data and assessed the methodological quality of studies, independently. The Review Manage Software 5.1.0 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Six trials involving 453 participants were eligible. None of the trials reported the mortality due to angina pectoris. The secondary outcomes showed that Sini decoction, together with nitroglycerin when necessary, may have some effects on reducing the number of angina attacks and the amount of nitroglycerin. But in terms of reducing the duration of angina and improvement of electrocardiogram, there were no statistical differences between Sini decoction group and isosorbide dinitrate group. Only one reported that no adverse events were found. CONCLUSION: Based on this systematic review, Sini decoction can reduce the dosage of nitroglycerin, when compared with isosorbide dinitrate group. And there were no enough evidence in the papers to draw any conclusions for the safety of Sini decoction.

The association between blood lipid and phlegm turbidity syndrome of angina pectoris: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: A series of case-control studies have been conducted to investigate the association between blood lipid and phlegm turbidity syndrome of angina pectoris, but produced inconsistent results. OBJECTIVE: We performed a meta-analysis to determine the association between blood lipid and phlegm turbidity syndrome of angina pectoris more precisely. METHODS: Manual screening as well as screening of the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Journal full-text database (VIP), Wanfang database (WF), ScienceDirect, Pubmed, the Cochrane Library, and Embase were carried out for relevant literature. The formula was translated to calculate the pooled mean value and standard deviation value. The "Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale: Case-Control Studies" (NOS) was taken to assess the quality of the included studies. The Revman 5.2.6 software provided by "The Cochrane Collaboration" was used to analyze the collected data. The subgroup analysis was established according to the sample size proportion between the test group and the control group. Sensitivity analysis was constructed by using two different effect models. Besides, a funnel plot was created to analyze potential publication bias. RESULTS: No statistically meaningful difference existed between the test group and control group of total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) in non-Qi and yin deficiency syndrome (QYDS) and non-Yang deficiency syndrome (YDS) subgroup, whereas the two biotic indicators in the test group were higher than the non-phlegm syndrome group in other subgroups. Triglyceride (TG) in phlegm syndrome group showed superior to non-phlegm syndrome group in the rest subgroups except for the non-CCS (Cold coagulating syndrome)-non-YDS subgroup. High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels of the phlegm group were lower than that of the non-phlegm group in all subgroups. CONCLUSION: When comparing with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndromes of asthenia nature, such as YDS, QYDS, and heart qi deficiency syndrome), the levels of TG, TC, and LDL-C were higher in phlegm turbidity syndrome. However, for sthenia syndromes such as Qi stagnation syndrome (QSS), heart blood stasis syndrome (HBSS), and CCS, there was no obvious difference. Furthermore, HDL-C levels in the phlegm turbidity group were lower than those of the non-phlegm group. Nevertheless, these results should be confirmed with further studies.

Safflower yellow injection combined with conventional therapy in treating unstable angina pectoris: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of safflower yellow injection combined with conventional therapy in treating unstable angina pectoris. METHODS: We searched online databases: Chinese journal full-text database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang database, Chinese journal full-text database, Pubmed, ScienceDirect, Embase, and the Cochrane Library with manual-screening of relevant literature. Eligible randomized controlled trials (RCT) on angina pectoris were included. We conducted meta-analysis using the RevMan 5.1 software from The Cochrane Collaboration. We treated the relief rate of angina symptoms and electrocardiograph (ECG) as evaluation. RESULTS: Seven articles, including in 1134 patients, were enrolled after the evaluation. There was no significant heterogeneity among the studies (chi2 = 1.08, df = 6, P = 0.98, I2 = 0%). The safflower yellow injection with conventional therapy has a higher effective rate than the control group in relieving the symptoms of angina pectoris [odds ratio (OR)= 2.95, 95% (CI) (1.81, 4.81)] and improving ischemic ECG [OR = 2.85, 95% CI (1.67, 4.86)]. The difference was statistically significant in the "80 mg dosage" and "100 mg dosage" subgroups (P < 0.05) for improving clinical symptoms and ECG. The funnel graphic was nearly symmetrical. Sensitivity analysis suggested that the results were stable. CONCLUSION: Safflower yellow injection as an adjunct therapy with conventional drugs shows advantages in easing the clinical symptoms of unstable angina and improving ECG over basic therapy alone. However, the conclusions should be interpreted with care until more high-quality RCTs are reported.