Certain Subgroups Less Likely to Receive Smoking Cessation Advice

Adults who are male, younger, without insurance, from racial/ethnic minority groups, or without smoking-related comorbidities are less likely to receive smoking cessation advice and prescription smoking cessation medications from physicians, according to study findings published online in JAMA Network Open.

This is amid an overall rise in smokers who reported having received physician advice to stop smoking.

“Despite this progress, disparities in the delivery of smoking cessation services still remain. The lower rates of delivery of physician advice to quit smoking and the lower uptake of proven prescription smoking cessation medications among men, the uninsured, those living below the federal poverty level, racial/ethnic minority groups, younger adults, and those without smoking-related disease may be associated with the higher rates of smoking among these subgroups despite the overall improvements in smoking quit rates,” researchers wrote.

“Thus, in addition to a global approach, a more targeted implementation of smoking cessation guidelines appears to be needed as part of the care for vulnerable subgroups.”

The nationally-representative, population-based study included 29,106 adults in the United States. Researchers looked at data from 2006 through 2015 to identify 10-year trends in self-reported receipt of physician advice to quit smoking and use of prescription smoking cessation medications.

In 2014 to 2015, 64.9% of smokers reported having received physician advice to quit smoking, according to the study, up from 60.2% in 2006 to 2007. Women had statistically significant higher odds of receiving cessation advice.

Prescription smoking cessation medication use, meanwhile, decreased. Total expenditures for prescription drug cessation aids fell from $146 million in 2006 to 2007 to $73 million in 2014 to 2015. Out-of-pocket costs decreased from $46 million to $9 million over the span.

Researchers theorized over-the-counter cessation alternatives such as nicotine replacement therapy and electronic cigarettes are likely behind the drop in prescription medication use for smoking cessation.

—Jolynn Tumolo

Reference

Tibuakuu M, Okunrintemi V, Jirru E, et al. National trends in cessation counseling, prescription medication use, and associated costs among US adult cigarette smokers. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 May 3;2(5):e194585.