Characteristics of excluded studies
| Study | Reason for exclusion |
| Allen (1998)17 | Not inpatients (delivered at outpatient clinic) |
| BTS (1983)18 | Inpatient and outpatient data not reported separately |
| Burt (1974)19 | Not randomised |
| Colby (1998)20 | Short follow up (3 months). Only investigated adolescent smokers |
| Dale (1995)21 | Not inpatients (some participants admitted to inpatients unit for smoking intervention) |
| Gritz (1993)22 | Not inpatients (only recruitment carried out in hospital setting) |
| Johnson (1999)23 | Not randomised |
| Meenan (1998)24 | Not randomised |
| Schmitz (1999)25 | No control/usual care group |
| Strecher (1985)26 | Not randomised |
| Wewers (1994)27 | Short follow up (5 weeks) |