Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-28-2005
Journal / Book Title
Lancet
Abstract
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
After an increase in cigarette taxes and implementation of smoke-free workplace legislation, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the New York State Department of Health, and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute undertook large-scale distribution of free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). We did a 6 month follow-up survey to assess the success of this programme in improving smoking cessation on a population basis.
METHODS:
34,090 eligible smokers who phoned a toll-free quitline were sent a 6-week course of nicotine patches (2 weeks each of 21 mg, 14 mg, and 7 mg per day). Brief follow-up counselling calls were attempted. At 6 months after treatment, we assessed smoking status of 1305 randomly sampled NRT recipients and a non-randomly selected comparison group of eligible smokers who, because of mailing errors, did not receive the treatment. NRT recipients were compared with local survey-derived data for heavy smokers in New York City.
FINDINGS:
An estimated 5% of all adults in New York City who smoked ten cigarettes or more daily received NRT; most (64%) recipients were non-white, foreign-born, or resided in a low-income neighbourhood. Of individuals contacted at 6 months, more NRT recipients than comparison group members successfully quit smoking (33%vs 6%, p<0.0001), and this difference remained significant after adjustment for demographic factors and amount smoked (odds ratio 8.8, 95% CI 4.4-17.8). Highest quit rates were associated with those who were foreign born (87 [39%]), older than 65 years (40 [47%]), and smoked less than 20 cigarettes per day (116 [35%]). Those who received a counselling call were more likely to stop smoking than those who did not (246 [38%] vs 189 [27%], p=0.001). With the conservative assumption that every 6-month follow-up survey non-respondent continued to smoke, the stop rate among NRT recipients was 20%. At least 6038 successful quits were attributable to NRT receipt, and cost was 464 US dollars per quit.
INTERPRETATION:
Easy access to cessation medication for diverse populations could help many more smokers to stop.
DOI
doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)66615-9.
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Miller, Nancy; Frieden, Thomas R.; Liu, Sze Yan; Matte, Thomas D.; Deitcher, Deborah R.; Cummings, K M.; Chang, Christina; Bauer, Ursula; and Bassett, Mary T., "Effectiveness of a large-scale distribution programme of free nicotine patches: a prospective evaluation" (2005). Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works. 24.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/public-health-facpubs/24
Published Citation
Nancy Miller, Thomas R Frieden, Sze Yan Liu, Thomas D Matte, Farzad Mostashari, Deborah R Deitcher, K Michael Cummings, Christina Chang, Ursula Bauer, Mary T Bassett, Effectiveness of a large-scale distribution programme of free nicotine patches: a prospective evaluation, The Lancet, Volume 365, Issue 9474, 2005, Pages 1849-1854,