A carbon monoxide (CO) monitor that measures the harmful amount of CO that is inhaled from smoking is being used in a study by the Maastricht University on the effectiveness of financial incentives and smoking cessation.
Manufactured by second-generation family company Bedfont Scientific, the piCO™ Smokerlyzer® is a breath analysis medical device used to help people quit smoking. It measures the harmful amount of CO that is inhaled from smoking, which can show how much a patient has been smoking, giving smoking cessation advisors an idea on the level of dependency that the smoker has. It will be used in a clinical study by the university to investigate whether or not a reward makes smoking cessation more effective.
The project – Continuous Abstinence Through Corporate Healthcare (CATCH) – run by Professor Dr C.P van Schayck and Dr G.E Nagelhout, will take several Dutch companies partaking in smoking cessation programmes, however only half of the subjects will receive gift certificates for their efforts.
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