Counseling Benefits Smokers With Comorbid Conditions

A new study published in the scientific journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research shows that smokers who are trying to quit the habit but also suffer from other disorders could fare significantly better if they undergo smoking cession counseling.

The research was primarily focused on individuals who suffer from alcohol and drug addictions, as well as a host of mental disorders. In their specific cases, quitting the habit may be considerably more difficult than in the case of otherwise-healthy smokers.

Primary care physicians are the best-fit healthcare providers to apply the counseling, the new investigation also uncovered. Ill smokers who undergo such sessions are five time more likely to quit the habit than their peers who suffer from the same disorders.

This study was conducted by experts with the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). These findings are very important because as much as 40 percent of the entire smoking population suffers from comorbid conditions.

Reducing the number of smokers would have two main consequences, both positive. First, it would improve the health of patients, reducing the number of conditions they risk developing further. Second, it would reduce the large public healthcare costs associated with treating smoking-induced diseases.

“We found it would be very effective for primary care physicians to provide help in quitting smoking to these patients,” explains JCCC researcher Dr. Michael Ong. He is also an assistant professor of general internal medicine and health services research at the university.

“However, in the context of everything these physicians are trying to do in a day, smoking cessation may fall by the wayside,” the expert adds. The paper detailing the findings appears in a peer-reviewed journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.

“It’s also been thought that with this patient population, doctors should only take on one thing at a time, for example treating an opiate addiction and opting to deal with the smoking cessation later,” he adds.

The new study goes a long way towards demonstrating that primary care physicians can indeed play an important part in reducing the incidence of smoking in the general population. Thus far, this relation has been unclear, as past studies produced inconclusive results.

Without counseling, patients with comorbid conditions had only a 6 percent chance of successfully quitting the habit, whereas with the sessions, their success rate increased to as much as 31.3 percent.

“This study shows that primary care physicians can help smokers with alcohol, drug or mental disorders to successfully quit. These smokers should be targeted for smoking cessation counseling to reduce the health burden of tobacco,” the study authors write in their journal entry.