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People who have tried quitting smoking know that it takes not one or two but multiple efforts to finally kick the butt. Also, it's usually not just one way that works at the first time. People try different measures various times to be finally able to get rid of the cancer stick addiction.

Researchers in a new finding suggest that those who try to quit could do so more easily and successfully if they combined medication or nicotine-replacement therapy with behavioral counseling.

"Since we know that both types of treatment are effective, the assumption has certainly been that offering both will be better than offering either alone," said lead researcher Lindsay Stead of the department of primary health care sciences at the University of Oxford.

For the study, the researchers measured the effects of combining behavioral and medication therapy versus intervention or medication therapy alone.

The researchers combined the findings from 41 studies involving more than 20,000 smokers and reviewed them. The analysis revealed that a combination of medication and behavioral therapy worked much better than non treatment or minimal intervention.

"Health care providers have an important role in convincing smokers of the importance of attempting to quit and making pharmacotherapy and behavioral support available," the researchers stated. "Usual care in most health care systems for smoking cessation typically consists of brief pre-quit counseling, a recommendation to use, and possible provision of cessation medication, and a follow-up visit or phone call a few weeks later," said Stevens S. Smith, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of medicine at the University of Wisconsin's Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention.

"For patients motivated to make a quit attempt, counseling and assistance with medications-if medically appropriate-should be provided," said Smith.

"For patients not motivated to quit, the doctor should use motivational interventions. Another option is referral to tobacco quit lines, such as 1-800-QUIT-NOW, where smokers can receive free medication, counseling, and other support to quit smoking," Smith added.