Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To analyze the characteristics of smokers treated with acupuncture for smoking cessation in Hong Kong.METHODS: A total of 2051 subjects were recruited in a clinical pilot research project "acupuncture for smoking cessation", which was conducted jointly by Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences and Hong Kong Pok Oi Hospital from January of 2011 to December of 2013. The characteristics of study subjects, including baseline information, smoking background, intention to quit and influencing factors were analyzed.RESULTS: The majority of subjects treated with acupuncture for smoking cessation in Hong Kong was male(66.7%), but the proportion of female smokers in this study(33.3%) was higher than that of female smokers in Hong Kong population(13.8%, P < 0.05). The mean duration of smoking was 25.49 years. The number of cigarettes smoked per day was 17.57 cigarettes.Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence(FTND)was 5.29 points. Most of the subjects had attempted quitting smoking(81.42%). The confidence index(7.44 points) and the readiness to quit smoking(8.13 points) were high. Subjects quitting smoking were mostly due to health cause(81.91%). The majority of subjects were at the level of middle school(61.63%). The higher the educational level was, the lower the tobacco dependence was and the higher the confidence in successfully quitting smoking was. 50.27% of subjects chose acupuncture for smoking cessation mainly through friends, television and network publicity. Subjects who had received acupuncture had the highest confidence index, while those who wanted to try a new method had the lower confidence index.CONCLUSION: Acupuncture for smoking cessation was more popular in female smokers, especially those aged 31-40 years. The effectiveness of acupuncture-smoking cessation was most significant in the smokers over 60.

Key words: Acupuncture, Smoking cessation, Tobacco use disorder