Gender, race, and education differences in abstinence rates among participants in two randomized smoking cessation trials.
BACKGROUND
Smoking is the leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, but this burden is not distributed equally among smokers. Women, Blacks, and people with low socioeconomic status are especially vulnerable to the health risks of smoking and are less likely to quit.


METHODS
This research examined cessation rates and treatment response among 2,850 participants (57.2% women, 11.7% Blacks, and 9.0% with less than a high school education) from two large cessation trials evaluating: nicotine patch, nicotine lozenge, bupropion, bupropion + lozenge, and nicotine patch + lozenge.


RESULTS
Results revealed that women, Blacks, and smokers with less education were less likely to quit smoking successfully than men, Whites, and smokers with more education, respectively. Women did not appear to benefit more from bupropion than from nicotine replacement therapy, but women and smokers with less education benefited more from combination pharmacotherapy than from monotherapy.


CONCLUSIONS
Women, Blacks, and smokers with less education are at elevated risk for cessation failure, and research is needed to understand this risk and develop pharmacological and psychosocial interventions to improve their long-term cessation rates.
Piper
Megan E
ME
Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, Madison, WI 53711, USA. mep@ctri.medicine.wisc.edu
Cook
Jessica W
JW
Schlam
Tanya R
TR
Jorenby
Douglas E
DE
Smith
Stevens S
SS
Bolt
Daniel M
DM
Loh
Wei-Yin
WY
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People; D016642:Bupropion / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D044469:Racial Groups; D012737:Sex Factors; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
D016642:Bupropion; D009538:Nicotine