Quitting smoking during substance use disorders treatment: Patient and treatment-related variables.

Although individuals in substance use disorders (SUD) treatment continue to smoke at high rates, regulatory policy and programming changes promoting tobacco cessation are being implemented, and some patients quit successfully. This study examined associations of smoking patterns, tobacco advertising receptivity, anti-tobacco message awareness, health risk perception, attitudes toward addressing smoking and availability of smoking cessation services with quitting smoking during SUD treatment. Surveys were completed by 1127 patients in 24 programs chosen randomly, stratified by program type (residential, methadone maintenance, outpatient), from among publicly funded, adult treatment programs within the NIDA Clinical Trials Network. Among respondents who had been in SUD treatment for at least one month, there were 631 current smokers and 52 former smokers who reported quitting smoking during treatment for at least one month prior to survey completion; these respondents comprised our sample (N=683). Results showed that participants who reported health concerns as a reason for quitting were 1.27 times more likely to have quit during treatment than those reporting health concerns affected quitting a little or not at all. Additionally, participants who reported that smoking cessation was part of their personal treatment plan during SUD treatment were 1.08 times more likely to have quit during treatment. Participants in methadone treatment were 49% less likely to report successfully quitting during treatment than those in outpatient treatment.

Conclusions: Results indicated that some smokers in SUD treatment successfully quit smoking during treatment, although their numbers were low. Participants’ reports of health concerns as a reason for quitting and including smoking cessation in personal, SUD treatment plans may hold promise for inclusion in smoking cessation interventions. The challenge of developing cost-effective, easy to implement, and individualized smoking cessation interventions to increase quit rates among smokers in SUD treatment continues.