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What is a
Smokerlyzer®
and how is it used to help smokers?
Smokerlyzer® is the trade name for Bedfont’s line of
Breath Carbon Monoxide (CO) Monitors and testers.
A Smokerlyzer® measures the level of carbon monoxide (CO) in
a person’s lungs and bloodstream. The test is simple and only requires
a person to breathe into the Smokerlyzer®
and within seconds it yields a personalized
reading. A Smokerlyzer®
works very much like the breathalyzer that the police use to test a
person for alcohol.
Smokerlyzers®
were first used by researchers back in the early 1970’s as a tool to
confirm whether or not people were smoking during research studies.
What researchers quickly discovered was that smokers had a motivational
response to the Smokerlyzer®
and its results. Smokerlyzers®
quickly found their way into quit smoking programs where they are used
as part of the treatment to help smokers stop smoking.
When you test a person for their CO level using a Smokerlyzer®,
you are giving them what is known as biomarker feedback,
which makes a test on the Smokerlyzer® very similar to a
blood pressure test or a cholesterol test. Both of these tests give a
person biomarker feedback – one about a person’s blood pressure level
and the other about their cholesterol level. There are many benefits to
monitoring a person’s blood pressure level or their cholesterol level
while they are being treated for high blood pressure or high cholesterol
- both the patient and the treatment provider get to see how severe the
problem is and this information helps them decide on an appropriate
approach to treating the problem. We monitor a person’s CO level with a
Smokerlyzer®
while they are being counseled to quit smoking for the same reasons.
Below is a brief description of the three main benefits of breath CO
monitoring.
Feedback
:
“Seeing is believing”. It would be difficult to find a person
who doesn’t know smoking is bad for them, right? So why do you need the
Smokerlyzer® to show smokers evidence of the dangerous toxins
that they take in when they smoke? Well, it’s the same reason a person
needs their blood pressure or their cholesterol checked - it is the
first step in treating high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
Scientific research has shown that seeing those initial results plays an
important role in correcting the problem. 1,2,3,4,5,6
Indicator of
dependence:
The reading on the Smokerlyzer® doesn’t tell you how many
specific cigarettes a smoker is smoking, but rather, it tells you more
about their smoking habit and their dependence to nicotine. This is
because CO goes hand and hand with the nicotine the smoker is trying to
draw out of the cigarette. The more nicotine they go after, the more CO
that comes along for the ride. So, generally speaking, the higher a
smoker’s CO level, directly after smoking a cigarette, the higher their
dependence to nicotine. How is that information going to help the
counselor or the smoker? There is plenty of literature available that
indicates that smokers are notoriously bad at accurately self-reporting
how much they smoke. Many smokers find out that they actually smoke
more than what they are telling people they smoke. This begs the
following question - If a smoker is treated as a pack a day smoker when
they really smoke two packs a day, could this be a possible reason they
ultimately fail to stop smoking OR resume smoking after quitting for a
period of time? 1,3,4,7
Measure
of success:
When a smoker initially stops smoking, besides saving money, there
aren’t a lot of tangible, immediate benefits that the smoker can see.
It’s actually a bit rough going at first as any smoker will tell you.
Those benefits will eventually materialize, but it takes time. One of
the most important aspects of the Smokerlyzer® is that it
allows the smoker to track their progress and see real, instant results
of stopping smoking - just like a person on a diet would use a weighing
scale to see if they are losing weight on the diet. Smokers can see the
benefits of stopping smoking within 1 to 2 days of not smoking. Seeing
their body improve after they stop smoking is very important because it
is reassurance that their approach to quitting smoking is working and it
is extremely rewarding for the smoker to see this! 1,2,3,4,5,6
One might assume that once the smoker has stopped smoking, the
Smokerlyzer®
becomes a useless tool because if the smoker hasn’t cheated and smoked,
they will always register at non-smoker levels on the Smokerlyzer®.
The reality is somewhat surprising. Thousands upon thousands of smoking
cessation counselors and professionals from across the U.S. and Canada
have told us consistently over the years that it is the Smokerlyzer®
that brings the smoker (or former smoker) back week after week. These
former smokers never seem to tire of seeing their readings because it is
the one piece of evidence that they can hold onto as they fight a very
powerful addiction.
Many non-smokers don’t immediately understand the benefits of breath CO
monitoring and how it can help smokers attempting to kick the habit. If
you are a smoking cessation treatment professional and are not sure if a
Smokerlyzer®
is right for the work that you do, please give us a call at (757)
645-9369 and a representative will be happy to discuss how a Smokerlyzer®
can help you, help a smoker.
If you would like to learn more about our Smokerlyzer®
line, please see the information below or feel free to contact our
customer service department for more information at (757) 645-9369 or
via email at
info@bedfontusa.com.
How do
you know which Smokerlyzer is right for you and the work that you’re
doing?
Bedfont’s Smokerlyzer®
customers usually fall into one of two categories: Individuals
working with smokers to help them stop smoking, etc. or clinical
researchers who need a tool that allows them to chemically validate
their work.
The first group, Individuals working with smokers to help them stop
smoking, etc.,
includes everyone from professional smoking cessation counselors,
respiratory therapists, school counselors, human resource professionals,
teachers as well as many other individuals to numerous to list here.
For these individuals, Bedfont offers two unique Smokerlyzer®
- they are the piCO+ and the COmpact Smokerlyzers®.
The piCO+ breath CO monitor is the gold standard in breath CO
monitoring for tobacco treatment and is the ideal tool if you would like
to give smokers detailed information about their smoking habit. The
piCO+ offers two forms of biofeedback: ppm (Parts Per
Million, which is the level of CO in the lungs) and %COHb (carboxyhemoglobin,
which is the level of CO in the blood). The ppm level is displayed in
one ppm increments and the range is from 1-80. While Bedfont offers
monitors that read higher than 80 ppm, for tobacco treatment and
prevention education, it really isn’t necessary to read beyond 80 ppm
for several reasons. A Bedfont representative would be happy to explain
some of benefits of the piCO+ monitor.
The COmpact Smokerlyzer®
was designed as a screening tool for brief interventions/encounters with
smokers. The COmpact Smokerlyzer®offers
seven possible readings, each of which is a ppm range. For example, a
reading of 1 ppm is 0-6 ppm. A reading of 2 ppm is 7-11 ppm and each
subsequent level is broken-down in a similar manner. The COmpact
is an ideal tool for physician practices or pharmacies that simply want
to offer smokers quick but limited feedback on their smoking habit with
the ultimate goal of encouraging them to seek treatment offered by a
professional cessation counselor. The COmpact is not recommended as
a tool for repeat or follow-up testing or to follow individuals through
a cessation program. For repeat or follow-up testing, Bedfont strongly
recommends our piCO+ model which will allow you to provide more
detailed feedback to smokers.
If you would like to learn more about our piCO+ monitor, please
click here to be taken to the
product page for the piCO+ Monitor.
If you would like to learn more about our COmpact Smokerlyzer®,
please click here to go to
our COmpact page.
For those conducting clinical research, Bedfont offers its Micro
line of Smokerlyzers. Bedfont’s Micro line has been the gold
standard in breath CO monitoring for clinical research for the past 20
years. While all of Bedfont’s breath CO monitors utilize the same
sensor technology, the Micro line offers researchers features
that are ideal to clinical research. Chief among these features is the
broad ppm range of the monitor. While it is rare to get readings
around or even over 100 ppm, these readings do occur from time to time
within certain populations of smokers and the Micro ensures that
these readings will not be missed. The Micro line offers
researchers the ability to read from 0-250 ppm in one ppm increments
along with the equivalent %COHb reading, simultaneously. While
the Micro line is ideally suited for clinical research, it can
also be used for smoking cessation treatment like the piCO+
monitor.
If you would like to learn more about our Micro line, please
click here to be taken to the
product page for the Micro Monitor.
Please
do not hesitate to contact us with questions at (757) 645-9369 or via
email at info@bedfontusa.com.
Citations:
1/ Jarvis
MJ, Belcher M, C Vesey, DCS Hutchinson. Low cost carbon monoxide
monitors in smoking assessment.
Thorax 1986; 41: 886-887.
2/
Jamrozik K, Vessey M, Fowler G, Nicholas W, Parker G, Van Vunakis H.
Controlled trial of three different antismoking interventions in general
practice.
British Medical Journal 1984 288: 1499-1503
3/
Fagerstrom KO. Assessment of the smoker who wants to quit.
Monaldi Archives Chest Disease 2001; 56: 2, 124-127
4/ Steele
C. Is Smoking a Disease?
Journal of Smoking-Related Disease. 1994:55 (Suppl
1);219-222
5/ Wald
Nicolas J, Idle Marianne, Boreham Jillian, Bailey Alan.
Carbon monoxide in breath in relation to smoking and carboxyhaemoglobin
levels.
Thorax 1981, 36: 366-369
6/ McClure
Jennifer B. Are Biomarkers Useful Treatment Aids for Promoting Health
Behavior Change?
American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2002; 22 (3),
200-207
7/ Jarvis
Martin J., Tunstall-Pedoe Hugh, Feyerabend Colin, Vessey Cyril, Saloojee
Yussuf. Comparison of Tests Used to Distinguish Smokers from Nonsmokers.
American Journal of Public Health 1987, Vol. 77, No. 11,
1435-1438
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