Almost a 100 years to the day after the birth of the eminent epidemiologist Richard Doll on 28 January 1912, the results of the smoking analyses of the million women study were published.1 The report, fittingly dedicated to Doll by the authors, demonstrates the hazards of prolonged smoking and benefits of smoking cessation in women. This adds another important chapter to the health literature on smoking that Doll famously contributed enormously to, particularly through his landmark 50-year study of smoking among British doctors. Epidemiologists will naturally have followed this story with interest, but I feel that there are also valuable lessons for trainees in general practice.
Many GPs may question the relevance of smoking cessation research to their practice …