People who smoke cigarettes and automatically receive help to quit are more likely to succeed, even if they are not fully motivated initially. A new study led by researchers at the University of Kansas Cancer Center found that an opt-out approach, in which people who smoke are given medication and advice to quit smoking unless they refuse, significantly increases quit rates. One month after starting, 22% of people in the opt-out group had quit smoking, while only 16% in the opt-in group had quit. Their findings were made recently published in JAMA network opened.
The study was conducted among people who smoked and were patients at the University of Kansas Health System. Participants were randomly placed into one of two groups: opt-out or opt-in treatment. In the opt-out group, unless patients declined, they automatically received all components of an evidence-based tobacco treatment plan, including a starter pack of nicotine patches and gum, a prescription for smoking cessation medications, a treatment plan, and follow-up calls.
Opt-out patients were free to decline any element of care (“opt-out”). In the opt-in group, patients were asked if they wanted each treatment component and received only those components they agreed to.
Patients were asked to choose a number between 0 and 10 to measure their desire to quit. Zero meant they didn’t think about quitting, and 10 meant they took action to quit. The researchers then used Bayesian statistical methods to see how the desire to quit affected the chances of quitting, comparing opt-out treatments with opt-in treatments.
Byron Gajewski, Ph.D., professor of Biostatistics and Data Science and co-director of KU Cancer Center’s Biostatistics and Informatics Shared Resource, co-authored the paper with Babalola Faseru, MD, and Kimber Richter, Ph.D., both professors of public health. All three are members of the Cancer Prevention and Control research program of the KU Cancer Center.
The team used the University of Kansas Health System’s UKanQuit program, a bedside tobacco treatment service, to conduct the study. UKanQuit has served as the basis for several large clinical trials aimed at finding the most effective methods of engaging smokers in quit programs before they are discharged from hospital.
“Healthcare providers don’t ask patients if they want to get evidence-based care for other conditions like asthma, high blood pressure or diabetes,” says Dr. Richter. “They just identify a health problem and provide the best care possible. For no reason, we have always treated tobacco addiction differently – we wanted to see what would happen if we proactively treated tobacco addiction.”
Out of 739 participants, the study found that in both groups, smokers who were ready to quit were more likely to quit. However, at each motivation level, smokers were more likely to quit if they received opt-out care than if they received opt-in care. Overall, the benefit of the opt-out treatment remained the same no matter how much the person wanted to quit when he started.
“This study is important because it shows that proactively offering help without an initial strong desire to quit can still make a big difference,” said Dr. Gajewski. “It suggests that opt-out treatment could be an effective strategy to help more people quit smoking.”
More information:
Byron Gajewski et al, Desire to quit smoking, opt-out tobacco treatment and quitting, JAMA network opened (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.33802
Provided by the University of Kansas Cancer Center
Quote: Study shows opt-out treatment helps smokers quit, even those with low motivation (2024, October 21) Retrieved on October 23, 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-opt-treatment-smokers .html
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