Study Looks at Impact of Incentivizing Smoking Cessation in Addition to Usual Care

WEDNESDAY, July 10, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Incentivizing smoking cessation increases smoking cessation through 12 weeks, but not at 26 weeks, when missing data are treated as smoking, according to a study published online July 2 in JAMA Network Open.

Darla E. Kendzor, Ph.D., from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, and colleagues randomly assigned adults with low socioeconomic status who were willing to undergo smoking cessation treatment to either usual care (UC) for smoking cessation (counseling plus pharmacotherapy) or UC plus abstinence-contingent financial incentives (UC plus FI; 161 and 159 participants, respectively).

The researchers found that assignment to UC plus FI was associated with an increased likelihood of seven-day point prevalence smoking abstinence (PPA) at the four-, eight-, and 12-week follow-ups after covariate adjustment with missing data treated as smoking (adjusted odds ratios, 3.11, 2.93, and 3.18, respectively), but not at the 26-week follow-up. At all follow-ups, including 26 weeks, the association of group assignment with smoking cessation reached statistical significance, with multiple imputations (adjusted odds ratio, 2.29). With all missing data estimation methods, repeated-measured analyses indicated that participants in the UC-plus-FI group were significantly more likely to achieve PPA across assessments through 26 weeks.

“Future research is needed to optimize treatment component combinations and durations, characterize treatment mechanisms, and address implementation barriers,” the authors write.

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry; two disclosed ties to Oklahoma University Health Science Center-Insight Mobile Health Platform as coinventors of Insight.

Abstract/Full Text