Every year, smoking prematurely kills more than 800 North Dakotans.

Now, the 20 percent of North Dakotans who use tobacco products have more help to avoid that fate.  The North Dakota Tobacco Quitline at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences provides support for North Dakotans who are ready to quit using tobacco products. 

The joint project with the North Dakota Department of Health and the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center began in September 2004 and has shown tremendous results in its first year. 

With one call, North Dakota smokers and chewing tobacco users receive free counseling and resources.

Quitline callers receive up to five telephone counseling sessions with professional counselors trained at the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center in Rochester, Minn.  The counselors help callers set a quit date, discuss ways to deal with withdrawal symptoms that include proper medication use, teach them about triggers and strategies for staying tobacco-free, and provide ongoing support and encouragement.

During its first year, the North Dakota Tobacco Quitline has answered nearly 3,000 calls to its toll-free number, and more than 800 North Dakotans enrolled for the free telephone counseling.

Nearly 40 percent of those people are still smoke-free six months after their quit dates, and a third have remained smoke-free after a year.

“That success rate is truly amazing,” said Dr. Eric Johnson, one of the project’s medical directors.  “Smokers who try to quit without help typically have only a 3 to 5 percent success rate.” 

Even among tobacco cessation programs, North Dakota’s has shown tremendous results.  Programs nationally have quit rates of 20 to 30 percent, according to Lowell Dale, associate medical director of the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center and the Mayo Clinic Tobacco Quitline.

“The North Dakota Quitline has had an exceptional quit rate among its callers in the first year,” said Dale, who works with the telephone tobacco cessation programs in New Jersey, Wyoming, and Minnesota as well as the North Dakota program.  “I think the factors making a difference in the North Dakota program are that the counselors spend the time necessary to get to know the caller, develop a comprehensive treatment plan, and then provide follow-up calls as needed.  Also, Dr. Johnson and his colleagues are very good at disseminating information about the Quitline throughout the state.”