Child health care clinicians' use of medications to help parents quit smoking: a national parent survey.
BACKGROUND
Smokers who use cessation medications when they attempt to quit double their likelihood of success. No prior survey has assessed the acceptability to parents of receiving smoking cessation medication prescriptions in the context of their child's primary care visits.


OBJECTIVE
To assess acceptability to parents of receiving smoking cessation medication prescriptions and to compare that with the reported rate of actually receiving smoking cessation medication prescriptions in the context of the child's health care visit.


METHODS
Data were collected through a national random-digit dial telephone survey of households from July to September 2003. The sample was weighted according to race and gender, on the basis of the 2002 US Census, to be representative of the US population.


RESULTS
Of 3990 eligible respondents contacted, 3010 (75%) completed surveys; 1027 (34%) of those were parents. Of those parents, 211 (21%) were self-identified smokers. One half would consider using a smoking cessation medication and, of those, 85% said that it would be acceptable if the child's doctor prescribed or recommended it to them. In contrast, of the 143 smoking parents who accompanied their child to the doctor, only 15% had pharmacotherapy recommended and only 8% received a prescription for a smoking cessation medication. These results did not vary according to parent age, gender, race, or child age.


CONCLUSIONS
Child health care clinicians have low rates of recommending and prescribing cessation therapies that have proved effective in other settings. The recommendation or provision of cessation medications would be acceptable to the majority of parents in the context of their child's health care visit.
Winickoff
Jonathan P
JP
Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Child and Adolescent Health Policy, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. jwinickoff@partners.org
Tanski
Susanne E
SE
McMillen
Robert C
RC
Klein
Jonathan D
JD
Rigotti
Nancy A
NA
Weitzman
Michael
M
D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009538:Nicotine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010290:Parents; D010372:Pediatrics; D010819:Physician's Role; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D014481:United States
D009538:Nicotine