Cessation

Research

Remedy market may promote related risky behavior
According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Florida, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, people undertake risky behaviors more often when exposed to marketing for remedies, including smoking cessation products. The researchers believe that the existence of a remedy could suggest to consumers that the risk is manageable. Click here for more information.

Older and younger smokers quit for different reasons
Research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that elderly women are more likely to quit smoking than elderly men, while results are just the opposite for studies among younger populations. Cessation occurs more frequently in elderly patients diagnosed with cancer, and the elderly exhibit a lower rate of recidivism. The authors of the study postulate that factors such as lack of transportation, poor financial situation and dementia might contribute to smoking cessation in older smokers. Click here for more information.

Effectiveness of comprehensive tobacco control programs confirmed by cessation data
A recent study in the Journal of Health Promotion confirms that comprehensive tobacco control programs and policies work. Researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute compared smoking cessation data to levels of tobacco control programming and policies in communities. Findings suggest that in communities with well-funded tobacco control programs and policies, there is an increase in cessation rates. Click here for more information.

Telephone quitline programs most successful
A study conducted by the University of Minnesota and reported in the March 13th issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine found that smokers who use a trained counselor from a quitline are more than three times as likely to quit compared to those with only routine health care provider intervention. Click here to view a summary of the study. (free registration required)

Placement of anti-smoking ads and calls to quitlines
A study in the February 2006 issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health models the relation between placement of antismoking advertisements and calls to quitlines on a given day. Click here to view the abstract.

Television ads effective in helping young smokers quit
The March 2006 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine contains an article demonstrating that advertisements were the most frequently mentioned source of help among recent quitters. The most helpful ads were those that depicted illness due to smoking or provided inspirational quit tips. Older, more dependent smokers were most likely to find conventional aids, such as quit-smoking programs, helpful. Click here to view the article.

NYC study shows that multi-faceted quit programs are effective
According to the New York City Fire Department World Trade Center Tobacco Cessation Study, called “Tobacco Free with FDNY,” tobacco dependency treatment using combination nicotine medications is effective and safe. For more information, click here.

Child health care providers can help parents quit
According to the results of a national survey published in Pediatrics, child health care providers have low rates of referring and enrolling parents who smoke in any cessation services. The authors recommend that tobacco control efforts in the child health care setting should include implementation of office systems that facilitate enrollment of parental smokers into telephone quitlines. Click here to view the abstract.

Graphic Canadian cigarette warning labels influence behavior
According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, the graphic warnings on packs of cigarettes in Canada made a difference. One-fifth of participants in the study reported smoking less as a result of the warning labels. Participants who attempted to avoid the warnings (30%) were no less likely to think about the warnings and attempt to quit. Many participants experienced negative emotional responses, such as fear (44%) and disgust (58%), and the greater the negative emotion, the more likely participants were likely to quit. For more information, click here.

Nicotine vaccine shows promise
An experimental nicotine vaccine offers hope for people addicted to smoking, according a study published in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. The vaccine, called NicVax, is currently being tested in humans. It is designed to make the body produce antibodies against nicotine. Click here for more information.

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TobaccoCME.com reviewed by panel of experts
TobaccoCME.com, a comprehensive continuing education website for healthcare providers, has been completed and reviewed by a panel of experts in tobacco control. Credit is now available for physicians (ACCME), counselors (NBCC, NYS OASAS, and CAADAC), and pharmacists. Eighteen hours of courses are available on topics ranging from the basics of tobacco cessation to specific information for helping women, children, teens, and the elderly to quit tobacco as well as information on smokeless tobacco, cigars, and pipes.

National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit website on Medicaid and tobacco treatment coverage
The National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit policy working group and its partners (ASTHO, CDC, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, MOD, AMCHP and others) are available to help states maintain or improve coverage for tobacco treatment services under Medicaid. The Partnership's Medicaid web page contains information on new changes in Medicaid that may affect tobacco treatment coverage, the 2004 Medicaid Tool Kits, media communication kits, and case studies highlighting Medicaid innovations in two states.

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Laser therapy investigated as tool for stopping smoking
There are appears to be a trend of advertisements for laser therapy to help individuals quit smoking. Although much anecdotal evidence exists, the use of lasers is controversial because there is currently a lack of randomized, controlled, peer-reviewed studies on the technique. Therefore, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved the use of lasers for treating smoking. For more information, click here.

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Florida:
 
Florida’s Santa Rosa County to promote smoke-free pregnancy
Santa Rosa County officials are starting an awareness campaign to help pregnant women quit smoking. The number of Santa Rosa women smoking while pregnant was nearly twice the state average in 2004. Click here for additional information.

Indiana:
 
Indiana quitline now open
The state of Indiana now has a telephone-based tobacco treatment program. The program arranges for a personalized consultation with a trained quit coach. The Indiana Tobacco Quitline is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is available by calling the national 1-800-QUITNOW phone number from within Indiana. Indiana has partnered with Free and Clear, Inc. and services will be offered in both English and Spanish, with translation to other languages. Click here to view a press release from Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation.
 
Indiana mothers struggle to quit smoking
According to a report issued by the Indiana Youth Institute, the smoking rate among mothers remains twice the national average. Almost one in five Indiana mothers were unable to quit smoking while they were pregnant. These results were presented at an informal gathering about issues related to tobacco cessation at a downtown Indianapolis hotel with Dr. Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco. For more information, click here.

Kansas:
 
Kansas college support group helps women quit smoking
The American Legacy Foundation selected the University of Kansas as one of 12 sites for the Circle of Friends program, sponsored by the foundation. According to Legacy, nearly 25 percent of college women smoke and a quarter of today’s smokers started after turning 18. Participants use a workbook to identify their smoking pattern and get help establishing a circle, a group dedicated to providing support for quitting smokers. For more information, click here.

North Dakota:
 
North Dakota Quitline offers audio library
For North Dakotans who want more information before they attempt to quit smoking, they can now access a Quitline audio library containing useful tips. For more information, click here

Utah:
 
New ad campaign in Utah highlights more immediate consequences of smoking
The Utah Department of Health is highlighting the short-term impacts of smoking in a new ad campaign to encourage Utahns to quit. The Department hopes Utah smokers will see a little of themselves in the situations portrayed through the campaign. Click here for more information.

Virginia:
 
Expert at Virginia Forum on Youth Tobacco Use compares tobacco to virus
Jack E. Henningfield, a psychiatry professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leading expert on nicotine addition, stated that tobacco-control advocates and researchers should approach their work like scientists trying to stop an influenza pandemic. During his talk at the Virginia Forum on Youth Tobacco Use, he compared tobacco products to a mutating virus, warning health advocates to be aware of the supposedly "reduced- risk" tobacco products introduced in recent years. He said nicotine addiction should be attacked through prevention and cessation, just as the medical community fights flu outbreaks through treatment and prevention. More than 50 scientists have been involved in research sponsored by the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation. The Virginia tobacco research program is unique in that it has encouraged collaboration among faculty from different universities that would normally compete for resources. Click here for more information

Wisconsin:
 
University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention receives grant to study impact of National Network of Tobacco Cessation Quitlines
The center was awarded a three-year grant to study the impact of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Network of Tobacco Cessation Quitlines on state quitlines and state funding. The project seeks to answer questions like, does state quitline funding change over time, have states without quitlines created them, and has overall state funding for tobacco control increased or decreased? The grant was awarded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Substance Abuse Policy Research Program. For more information, please contact Gloria Meyer at the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention at 608-265-4447 or GKM@ctri.medicine.wisc.edu.

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