Health care provider use of guideline-based smoking cessation interventions: results from the 2003 Wisconsin Tobacco Survey.
Tobacco use is the chief preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. In Wisconsin, approximately 7300 deaths--representing about 20% of all deaths within our state each year--are attributable to smoking. Nearly half of the estimated 815,000 adult smokers in Wisconsin make a quit attempt each year, but most smokers make unaided quit attempts that have a very low probability of success (< 5%). The 2000 Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline, "Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence," provides recommendations for evidence-based treatments (e.g., counseling, FDA-approved cessation medications) for smoking cessation that can result in long-term abstinence rates of up to 25% or more. The current study provides results from the 2003 Wisconsin Tobacco Survey on the extent to which Wisconsin health care professionals are using Guideline-based interventions to identify smokers and assist them to quit smoking. Results show that in 2003 about 77% of current smokers were asked about tobacco use and about 61% were advised to quit. Rates of cessation assistance ranged from 6% to 22%. Increases in smoking cessation interventions by health care professionals have enormous potential to decrease the smoking prevalence rate and improve the health of Wisconsin smokers.
Smith
Stevens S
SS
Department of Medicine, Section of General Internal Medicine, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison 53711, USA. sss@ctri.medicine.wisc.edu
Beckley
Tyler
T
Fiore
Michael C
MC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D014922:Wisconsin / Q000453:epidemiology