Smoking is responsible for nearly one in every five deaths in the United States alone, the American Cancer Society said.

As such, quitting the habit is an important step to help former users enhance the length and quality of their lives, the U.S. Surgeon General said.

Most people prefer to ditch smoking by cutting down gradually until they stop, but a new study revealed that those who quit cold turkey are more likely to be successful in kicking the habit than their counterparts.

Led by Dr. Nicola Lindson-Hawley of the University of Oxford, the research team had set out to compare the two contrasting strategies to find out which one is the more effective method.

Gradual Versus All-At-Once

Researchers randomly assigned 697 tobacco-addicted adult smokers who wanted to quit smoking into two groups: the first group went cold turkey, while the second group reduced smoking gradually by 75 percent within two weeks after quitting.

Participants from both groups went through behavioral support from nurses. They were also given access to nicotine patches and nicotine replacement therapy -- including mouth spray or nicotine gum -- before and after the day they had quit.

Lindson-Hawley and her colleagues assessed the participants weekly and after six months, asking them about their progress and measuring the amount of carbon monoxide they were exhaling. This was an objective approach to check whether the participants were indeed sticking to the plan.

At week four, about 39 percent of the gradual quitters had stopped smoking, while 49 percent of the cold turkey group had stayed off tobacco.

After six months, only more than 15 percent of the gradual quitters remained abstinent, while the number was 22 percent for the cold turkey group.

"What we found was that more people managed to quit when they stopped smoking all in one go than when they gradually reduced before quitting," said Lindson-Hawley.

Attempting To Quit

Researchers found that people who gradually reduce smoking before quitting have difficult doing so, and they experience discomfort and cravings that may ultimately prevent them from quitting. More people also liked the idea of quitting gradually than doing it all at once.

"However, regardless of what they thought they were still more likely to quit in the abrupt group," said Lindson-Hawley.

Dr. Michael B. Steinberg and Dr. Gabriela S. Ferreira of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School described the study as "well-designed" in an accompanying editorial.

Both experts said the findings call into question whether clinicians should push gradual reduction before a quit date among smokers who are ready to kick the habit.

They pointed out that participants in the study were all prepared to stop smoking within two weeks, but that many smokers in the general population who quit abruptly are not as successful. With that, gradual reduction may still be useful to some, they said.

"Gradual reduction may encourage these smokers, perhaps those less motivated, or those with lower self-efficacy, to make a quit attempt," they wrote.

Meanwhile, Lindson-Hawley said their study's findings should be useful to people who want to quit but do not know how to do it. She said they can definitely tell smokers and clinicians that the best way to try is abrupt quitting than gradual reduction.

The study is featured in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Photo: Lindsay Fox | Flickr