• Edward F Ellerbeck, Lisa Sanderson Cox, HuiSiu-Kuen AzorSAPhiladelphia Department of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA., John Keighley, Tresza D Hutcheson, Sharon A Fitzgerald, A Paula Cupertino, K Allen Greiner, Nancy A Rigotti, Nancy Houston Miller, Vance Rabius, and Kimber P Richter.
• Department of Population Health, University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Blvd., MS 1008, Kansas City, KS, 66160, USA. eellerbe@kumc.edu.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2019 Dec 1; 34 (12): 2804-2811.

BackgroundCessation counseling and pharmacotherapy are recommended for hospitalized smokers, but better coordination between cessation counselors and providers might improve utilization of pharmacotherapy and enhance smoking cessation.ObjectiveTo compare smoking cessation counseling combined with care coordination post-hospitalization to counseling alone on uptake of pharmacotherapy and smoking cessation.DesignUnblinded, randomized clinical trial PARTICIPANTS: Hospitalized smokers referred from primarily rural hospitals INTERVENTIONS: Counseling only (C) consisted of telephone counseling provided during the hospitalization and post-discharge. Counseling with care coordination (CCC) provided similar counseling supplemented by feedback to the smoker's health care team and help for the smoker in obtaining pharmacotherapy. At 6 months post-hospitalization, persistent smokers were re-engaged with either CCC or C.Main MeasuresUtilization of pharmacotherapy and smoking cessation at 3, 6, and 12 months post-discharge.Key ResultsAmong 606 smokers randomized, 429 (70.8%) completed the 12-month assessment and 580 (95.7%) were included in the primary analysis. Use of any cessation pharmacotherapy between 0 and 6 months (55.2%) and between 6 and 12 months (47.1%) post-discharge was similar across treatment arms though use of prescription-only pharmacotherapy between months 6-12 was significantly higher in the CCC group (30.1%) compared with the C group (18.6%) (RR, 1.61 (95% CI, 1.08, 2.41)). Self-reported abstinence rates of 26.2%, 20.3%, and 23.4% at months 3, 6, and 12, respectively, were comparable across the two treatment arms. Of those smoking at month 6, 12.5% reported abstinence at month 12. Validated smoking cessation at 12 months was 19.3% versus 16.9% in the CCC and C groups, respectively (RR, 1.13 (95% CI, 0.80, 1.61)).ConclusionSupplemental care coordination, provided by counselors outside of the health care team, failed to improve smoking cessation beyond that achieved by cessation counseling alone. Re-engagement of smokers 6 months post-discharge can lead to new quitters, at which time care coordination might facilitate use of prescription medications.Trial RegistrationNCT01063972.

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