Just rip off the bandage; dive into the freezing water; close your eyes and take it. For cigarette smokers who waver at the edge of a decision to quit and consider strategies to ease the transition, a new study finds the all-in approach is more likely to work than wading in slowly.

In a clinical trial that pitted would-be quitters who stopped smoking altogether on quit day against those directed to wean themselves off the butts over two weeks, researchers found those who went cold turkey were more likely than gradual taperers to succeed in quitting for four weeks and for six months.

The differences weren’t overwhelming: at four weeks, 39.2 percent of the gradualists were no longer smoking, compared to 49 percent of the do-it-nowers. At six months 15.5 percent of the gradualists and 22 percent of those who stopped smoking on quit day were “former smokers.” But in a group of this size, those differences are considered statistical proof that quitting abruptly is a superior strategy to tiptoeing into the decision.

The study was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday.

Those numbers also underscore a somewhat depressing truth among cigarette smokers wishing to quit: Failure is common. Successful quitters tend to have one thing in common: Most of them tried to quit many times before succeeding.

The study was conducted in Great Britain, where participants included 697 people who smoked at least 15 cigarettes a day or who had diminished lung capacity consistent with regular smoking. To participate, subjects had to agree to quit within two weeks of enrollment. They were then assigned to either an abrupt-quit or gradual-quit group.

Enrollees in the gradual-quit group did get to choose whether, in the two-week period over which they were to stop smoking, they would taper their daily cigarettes, observe smoke-free periods, or smoke on a schedule. While they followed those gradual-quit patterns, they wore nicotine patches and got fast-acting nicotine products, including gum, tablets, lozenges and sprays.

At a nurse visit one week before their final-quit day, the gradualists had reduced their cigarette consumption, on average, by 48 percent, just short of the 50 percent goal. By quit-day, they had reduced on average by 68 percent, short of the 75 percent goal.