Health System Tobacco Cessation May Aid Smokers Trying to Quit

FRIDAY, July 8, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Health system-based tobacco cessation care may aid tobacco abstinence better than referral to a community-based quitline (QL), according to a study published online June 27 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Nancy A. Rigotti, M.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues randomly assigned 1,409 cigarette smokers admitted to the hospital and who wanted to quit to either postdischarge treatment to health system-based Transitional Tobacco Care Management (TTCM) or electronic referral to a community-based QL.

The researchers found that at one and three months after discharge, more TTCM participants used cessation counseling (one month: 34.7 versus 21.9 percent; three months: 35.1 versus 17.5 percent) and pharmacotherapy (one month: 64.4 versus 46.1 percent; three months: 52.0 versus 37.6 percent) compared with QL participants. Similarly, more TTCM participants reported continuous abstinence for three months and point-prevalence abstinence at one month and three months than QL participants. For the primary outcome of biochemically verified point-prevalence abstinence at six months, there was no significant difference between groups (19.9 versus 16.9 percent).

"We found that keeping smoking cessation within the health care system where it could be managed like other chronic medical conditions could be an effective form of treatment," a coauthor said in a statement.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text