Increasing Quitline smoking cessation services and offering free nicotine patches are a cost-effective way to reduce smoking rates, two U.S. studies found.

One study found the number of callers to the Oregon Tobacco Quitline jumped from 6,426 to 13,646 annually, and their quit rates nearly doubled, when the state of Oregon promoted Quitline services by combining one 30-minute telephone counseling session with a free two-week supply of Nicotine Replacement Therapy, or NRT.

The second study looked at 4,600 smokers who were randomly assigned to one of six levels of services when they called the Oregon Tobacco Quitline — one 15-minute telephone counseling with or without NRT; one 30-minute call and one follow-up with or without NRT; one 30-minute call and four follow-up calls with or without NRT.

Lead author Jack Hollis of Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., found that more than 21 percent of the smokers quit after receiving intensive counseling plus NRT. That compared to 11.7 percent of the smokers who quit after brief counseling with no NRT.

The findings are published in the December issue of Tobacco Control.