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Over fifty years have passed since the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee report on smoking and health. Even with the resulting decline in cigarette smoking from 42% in 1965 to 18% in 2012, over 42 million Americans still smoke. Guidelines explicitly advocate for the combined use of counseling and medication(s) as the most effective means to improve cessation rates.
Objectives:
This study evaluates abstinence rates of patients in a PCMH that attended pharmacist-led group tobacco cessation classes in conjunction with tobacco cessation medications compared to those who utilized the same medications but did not attend classes.
Study Design:
Patients for this study were recruited from a PCMH in Pittsburgh, PA. Patients with a documented active smoking status in the electronic medical record (EMR) beginning July 2013 were invited to a pharmacist-led tobacco cessation class.
Methods:
Study inclusion criteria for the intervention group included the use of nicotine replacement treatment (NRT), bupropion, or varenicline and attendance in at least 80% of the classes. An EMR report was used to identify patients for the control group who utilized NRT during the same timeframe but did not attend the class. Using a standardized script, tobacco abstinence rates in both the control and intervention groups will be assessed telephonically at 2, 4, 12, and 24 weeks following treatment. Results will be evaluated using descriptive statistics.
Preliminary Results:
Telephonic follow-up calls to both groups are being conducted, and dependent upon agreement to enroll in the study, the anticipated final sample size is 80. Cessation rates for patients with complete follow-up response are approximately 20% and 0% for patients in the intervention group and control group respectively.
Conclusions:
Data collection continues through April 2016 to meet specified follow-up times.