WENATCHEE — Wenatchee High School students were part of a teen smoking study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The study, published in mid-October, was the first time researchers proved that one-on-one counseling makes a significant difference in teen smoking rates.

“When this study started, despite decades of research and dozens of intervention trials, there was no proven way to reach teens from the general population and recruit them into smoking cessation programs, and there was no proven way to help these teens quit,” said lead researcher Arthur Peterson in a prepared statement.

Statewide, more than 2,000 students at 50 high schools participated in the study.

Half of the schools, including Wenatchee High School, were control schools. With parental consent, students from the Class of 2005 took a survey about smoking habits and attitudes during their junior year, and again in their senior year.

Peterson said in a phone interview that he did not know how many Wenatchee students participated, and would not release local survey results.

In the other 25 high schools, researchers offered up to nine confidential counseling sessions over the telephone with trained counselors.

The counselors helped teen smokers quit with motivational interviewing techniques and behavioral tips. Counselors also talked to non-smokers about how to help their friends quit.

By the end of the study, about 22 percent of the smokers in counseling had stopped smoking for six continuous months, compared to nearly 18 percent of smokers at the control high schools, according to a news release from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Intervention also increased three-month, one-month and seven-day smoking abstinence rates compared to the control group.

An estimated 26.5 percent of high school seniors smoke monthly. Nearly half of all adolescent smokers said they tried to quit smoking in the past year, but only about 4 percent per year succeed on their own, the news release said.

Rachel Schleif: 664-7139

schleif@wenatcheeworld.com