GP wins a prestigious research award for study into smokers ageing lungs

Dr Gary Parkes’ ambitious study – which was funded by the Health Foundation – involved 561 smokers over 35 in five GP practices in Hertfordshire.  After using spirometry tests to estimate their lung age, he found that giving smokers this information significantly improved the likelihood of their quitting smoking.

The results showed that 38 people (13.6%) out of 280 smokers had successfully stopped smoking for 12 months after being told the true age of their lungs. This compared with 18 (6.4%) in the control group of 281 people. Patients’ saliva was also tested to prove that they really had stopped smoking. 

Dr Parkes was assisted in the findings by Professor Trisha Greenhalgh from University College London; Mark Griffin, Lecturer in Medical Statistics at UCL; and Dr Richard Dent, Consultant Chest Physician at QE II Hospital in Hertfordshire.

The study was published in the BMJ in March 2008. Dr Parkes and his team were presented with the award at a RCGP dinner in London on 24 June 2009. 

The Research Paper of the Year Award is run by the RCGP each year to raise awareness of high quality studies taking place in the general practice setting and to encourage more GPs to become actively involved in research.  A panel of peers, independent of the sponsor, chose the winning paper.

Dr Gary Parkes, lead-author of the study, said: 'It is a great privilege to win this award and a tribute to the hard work of the team involved in the Step2quit research study. I hope that many more smokers can benefit from knowledge about their lung health and that these results can be used to update the evidence for smoking cessation guidance and used to expand the intervention into a nationwide programme.

'Also, I want to thank the Health Foundation who funded the two year research project.'