Smoking-Cessation Efforts by US Adult Smokers with Medical Comorbidities

Introduction:
This text is a summary of a clinical research study on smoking-cessation efforts among US adult smokers with medical comorbidities. The study aims to assess the association between medical comorbidities and smoking-cessation efforts including quit attempts, use of evidence-based smoking-cessation treatment or electronic cigarettes, and successful smoking cessation. The study uses data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study and adjusts for sociodemographic factors, insurance status, geographic region, and having a past-year doctor visit.

Key Points:

* The study found that smokers with any comorbidity had higher odds of trying to quit compared with those without comorbidities, but no higher likelihood of quitting success.
* Having more medical comorbidities was associated with increased odds of trying to quit.
* Smokers with a comorbidity used evidence-based treatment more often than smokers without comorbidities, but use of e-cigarettes to quit was similar between smokers with and without comorbidities.
* Adult smokers with chronic medical diseases try to quit and use evidence-based tobacco-cessation treatment more often than smokers without comorbidities, but they are no more likely to quit, suggesting that their quit attempts are less likely to succeed.
* Smokers with medical comorbidities may require more intensive, prolonged, and repeated treatment to stop smoking.
* The study was funded by the Carney Family Foundation award and the authors declare conflicts of interest.

Main Message:
The study highlights the importance of addressing smoking-cessation efforts in individuals with chronic medical diseases, as they try to quit and use evidence-based treatments more often than smokers without comorbidities, but they are no more likely to quit. Therefore, smokers with medical comorbidities may require more intensive and repeated treatment to stop smoking, and healthcare providers should take a chronic disease management approach to addressing tobacco use.

Kalkhoran, Sara. “Smoking-Cessation Efforts by US Adult Smokers with Medical Comorbidities.” The American Journal of Medicine 131, no. 3 (2018).