Our success rate
The success rate at Allen Carr’s Easyway Centres is over 50% after 12 months as indicated in independent scientific studies in peer review journals1.
It is also more effective than established government programmes including the gold standard NHS 1-1 service & the Irish Health Service’s Quit.ie based on two randomised controlled trials published in a peer reviewed journals2&3.
It is also over 90% for stop smoking, stop drinking and quit drugs seminars based on the three month money-back guarantee.
Independent scientific studies
Independent scientific studies published in peer review journals indicate that even after 12 months the stop smoking success rate remains over 53% and 51% after 3 years per Addictive Behaviours in October 2006 and Long-term success of short smoking-cessation seminars supported by occupational health care, H. Moshammer, M. Neuberger. Addictive Behaviors (2007) Success Rate 51.4% after 3 years and Smoking cessation at the workplace: 1 year success of short seminars, H.P Hutter, H. Moshammer, M.Neuberger. Internal Archives of Occupational Environmental Health (2005) 40% (worse case) 55% (best estimate)1.
This is unprecedented in the field of smoking cessation
Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs)
The results of an RCT undertaken by the Irish Government were presented in 20182. This clinical trial showed that Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking Seminar success rates were “significantly higher” than the Irish Health Service’s Quit.ie programme2. This is an exceptional result and Allen Carr is well on the way to proving the superior effectiveness and power of Allen Carr’s Easyway method compared to methods that use nicotine patches/gum and other drugs – even when those drugs are combined with counselling.
A results of an RCT in England shows that Allen Carr’s Easyway Seminars as good as, if not more effective than, UK’s Gold Standard NHS 1-1 Stop Smoking Service3.
What are Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT) and what is a good success rate?
It is helpful to communicate a little about our experiences of planning and (at last) implementing RCTs over the last 15-20 years.
It’s become increasingly apparent how detached from reality RCT success rate results.
What is a good success rate for Allen Carr’s Easyway in a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT)?
Based on the 3-month money back guarantee offered at our centres the success rate is over 90% for stop smoking, stop drinking and quit drugs. Independent scientific studies published in peer reviewed journals indicate that even after 12 months the success rate is over 50% – a result which is unprecedented in the field of smoking cessation. So, what would a good success rate be in an RCT that compares the effectiveness of Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking method to that of another method such as a national stop smoking service that uses nicotine products? Would it surprise you to know that a 7.5% success rate could be good? Or that a 10% success rate could be great? Or that a 15% success rate might be truly historic in the field of smoking cessation?
How can that be?
The important result in an RCT isn’t really how high the success rate is, but how the success rate compares to the other method/s in the trial (the existing treatments). If the tested method is “as good as”, or “better than”, existing treatments then that’s a spectacular result.
There are lots of reasons why the headline success rate in an RCT is certain to be much lower than the success rate of Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking method in the real world. For example, under the rules of the RCT, a smoker who signs up for the study, is allocated to a treatment, but then doesn’t bother to turn up and receive the treatment is classed as having failed to stop smoking with the treatment. Bizarre but true.
Furthermore, in the real world when a smoker attends one of our seminars and successfully stops smoking they don’t need to come back, they just get on with enjoying their smoke-free life. However, in the RCT they need to attend a follow up test to prove that they are a non-smoker and if they forget or simply can’t be bothered, they are deemed a smoker.
Another key difference is that in the real world a smoker attends our seminars as a result of their own initiative. They probably heard about Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking from a friend or family member who was successful with the method. They make their appointment as a result of their own thought processes. They are committed enough to pay their own fee to attend, in their own time, either taking a day off work or during their weekend.
Furthermore, they are motivated to attend back-up seminars to qualify for our money back guarantee. Their profile and motivation is therefore very different from someone who is attracted to take part in an RCT, who has perhaps never heard of Allen Carr’s Easyway before, who has the cost of the seminar paid for them, who in some cases is even paid to take part in the study and may even be attending primarily to receive the payment for doing so. Attending follow up tests simply to prove that you quit smoking takes commitment, time and motivation which is why in studies it is very normal for a high number of people to drop out and be mistakenly recorded as smokers even though they may have actually stopped smoking.
There are many more aspects of an RCT which make it incomparable with real world results. For example, someone who quits smoking but didn’t turn up for the carbon monoxide test in advance of the study to prove that they were a smoker at the outset, is counted as a smoker. And so on.
If Usain Bolt were to challenge your grandfather to a 100 metres race, there is no doubt who would win. The complications and restrictive protocols involved in conducting the study are a bit like loading Usain and your grandfather with heavy back-packs. There’s no doubt that Usain Bolt would still win easily, but he couldn’t possibly achieve anything like his personal best time or break a world record. It’s the same with an RCT.
Success is defined as being “as good as” or “better than” the “existing methods” involved in the trial
So, the important thing about an RCT is not the success rate achieved, but whether it is “as good as” or “better than” the other method.
It is in this way that a 7.5% success rate, or a 10% success rate, or a 15% success rate would be viewed as impressive if the alternative method only achieved a success rate of 6%, 8%, or 12%.
So the success rate of Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking method can be defined as follows:
Based on the 3 month money back guarantee the success rate at our public seminars is over 90%; independent scientific studies published in peer reviewed journals indicate that even after 12 months the success rate is over 50%; and randomised controlled trials published in peer reviewed journals indicate that Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking Seminars are as good as, if not better than, established government programmes including the gold standard UK National Health Service Stop Smoking Programme which incorporates nicotine patches, nicotine gum, other nicotine products, and Champix/Chantix (Varenicline) combined with 1-1 weekly psychological support and Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking Seminars are proven to be almost twice as effective as the Irish Health Service’s Quit.ie program.
It is wonderful to know that following the results we are able to hold our heads high knowing that “the bridge” to acceptance by the medical and scientific establishment has been built.
Success Stories
Internationally renowned for over 35 years, the method has helped over 50 million people to freedom worldwide.
But don’t just take our work for it.
Medical References
- UK Clinical Trial finds Allen Carr’s Easyway as good as, if not better than, the Gold Standard NHS Programme which uses NRT & 1-1 psychological support.
Frings D, Albery IP, Moss AC, Brunger H, Burghela M, White S, and Wood KV (2020) Comparison of Allen Carr’s Easyway programme with a specialist behavioural and pharmacological smoking cessation support service: A randomised controlled trial. Addiction 115: doi: 10.1111/add.14897 - National 12 month Clinical Trial finds Allen Carr’s Easyway almost twice as effective as other smoking cessation methods available on Health Service. Keogan, S., Li, S., Clancy L. (2018) Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking – A randomised clinical trial. BMJ Tobacco Control, Issue 4 Volume 28
- After a 3 year study 51% reported continuing abstinence.
Moshammer, H., & Neuberger, M. (2007). Long term success of short smoking cessation seminars supported by occupational health care. Addictive Behaviors, 32(7), 1486-1493 - Smokers following Allen Carr’s Easyway were about 6 times more likely to be abstinent, assessed after 13 months, compared to similar smokers in the general population.
Dijkstra, A., Zuidema, R., Vos, D., Van Kalken, M., The effectiveness of the Allen Carr smoking cessation training in companies tested in a quasi-experimental design. BMC Public Health volume 14, Article number: 952 (2014) - The 1 year quit rate was 55%. A long smoking history or many earlier unsuccessful attempts to quit did not predict failure.
Hutter, H., Moshammer, H. & Neuberger, M. Int Arch Occup Environ Health (2006) 79: 42 - NICE guidance on treating tobacco dependence says that the Easyway in-person group seminar should be available through the NHS for adults who smoke..Evidence shows..[it is] cost effective and value for money for NHS. Tobacco: preventing uptake, promoting quitting and treating dependence NICE guideline [NG209]
- The 2 year quit rate was 37.5% and reduced absenteeism of 85%
Prinzio, Bondanini, D Falco, Vinci, Camisa, Santoro, Arenesano, Dalmasso, Raponi, Di Brino, Cicchetti, Magnavita, Zaffina Feasibility of a Stop Smoking Program for Healthcare Workers in an Italian Hospital: Econometric Analysis in a Total Worker Health® Approach. Annals of Global Health (2023) Vol: 89 Issue 1
