II. Epidemiology
III. Preparation: Office based Smoking Cessation program
- Select an office Smoking Cessation coordinator
- Create a smoke free office
- Identify all smoking patients: "Do You Smoke"
- Review self-help materials with each smoker
- Make follow-up visits and call-backs
- Consider working with consulting pharmacists to dispense and counsel on Tobacco Cessation products
- Tobacco Cessation counseling is billable (CPT 99406 for >3 min and CPT 99407 for >10 min)
IV. Protocol: Interview in clinic
- "Do You smoke?"
- Label Chart "SMOKER" (or sticker)
- Make Smoking a Vital Sign
- How Much do you smoke?
- Greater Nicotine dependence if >1 pack per day
- How soon after waking do you have first Cigarette?
- Greater Nicotine dependence if under 30 minutes
- Have you tried to quit before?
- Successful cessation requires 3-6 attempts (average)
- Other assessment tools
- CAGE Questions can be applied to Tobacco Abuse
- Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence
V. Precautions: Myths regarding quitting smoking - Anxiety will increase
- Smokers (n=101) followed for 4 weeks
- No increase in anxiety
- Anxiety actually decreased after first week
- Reference
VI. Management: General
- See Behavior Modification (Trans-theoretical Model, Five As Technique)
- Use similar methods and medications for E-Cigarette Cessation as for Tobacco Cessation
-
Five As Technique Approach
- ASK about Tobacco use
- ADVISE patient quit Tobacco, directly and clearly
- ASSESS WILLINGNESS to quit Tobacco, prior attempts and current use
- ASSIST the patient in cessation with support, resources, medications, and expected initial adverse symptoms on quitting
- ARRANGE QUIT DATE and follow-up, and planned responses to difficult situations with risk of returning to Tobacco
- Provide Self-Help materials
- See resources below
- "Clearing the Air" (National Cancer Institute)
- Free NCI Materials: 1-800-4-CANCER
- Free telephone quit line: 800-QUIT-NOW
- SmokeFreeTxt: Text 'QUIT' to 47848
- Behavioral interventions are effective (with or without pharmacotherapy)
- Individual or group counseling
- Guaranteed financial incentives
- Text message-based counseling
- Hartmann-Boyce (2021) Cochrane Database Syst Rev (1):CD013229 [PubMed]
- Relapse is common in first 6-12 months after cessation
- Reassess interest in quitting after relapse
- Tobacco Cessation office-based billing
- Medicare covers up to 8 sessions per year
- Counseling for >3 minutes: CPT 99406
- Counseling for >10 minutes: CPT 99407
- Specific Populations
- Pregnancy
- Adolescents
- Comborbid Mental Health Disorders
- Consider Verenicline (high efficacy in this population)
VII. Management: Pharmacotherapy
- Indications for pharmacotherapy (Nicotine Dependence)
-
Nicotine Replacement therapy (NRT)
- Eight week course is sufficient with little added benefit to longer use
- Base dose on Nicotine dependence
- See Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence
- Nicotine Patch
- Start at 21 mg patch for those with more than 10 Cigarettes per day (more than one half pack), and 14 mg patch if less
- Taper patch dose to off over 6-8 weeks
- Nicotine Gum
- Consider an occasional low dose gum (2 mg) as an adjunct to Nicotine Patch to treat breakthrough cravings
- Nicotine Nasal Spray
- Nicotine Inhaler
- Controller Medications (reduce the impulse to use Tobacco)
- Background
- Consider controller medications even in those reluctant to quit
- ATS recommends as of 2021 extending controller medications up to one year for higher sustained quit rate (NNT 19)
- Controller medications have been previously limited to 12 week course
- Leone (2020) Am J Respir Crit Care Med 202(2): e5-31 [PubMed]
- Bupropion (Zyban, Wellbutrin)
- Start XR 150 mg daily for 3 days, then 150 mg twice daily
- May also help avert the weight gain associated with Tobacco Cessation
- Effective for sustained cessation at 6 months, but adverse effects may limit use, and less effective than Varenicline
- Varenicline (Chantix)
- Start 1 week before quit date, at 0.5 mg daily for 3 days, then 0.5 mg twice daily for 4 days, then 1 mg twice daily for 12 weeks
- ATS preferred agent for sustained Smoking Cessation at 6 months (NNT 7)
- More effective when combined with Nicotine Replacement
- Nicotine Patch (see above)
- Other medications used historically
- Nortriptyline
- Titrate to serum level 50-150 ng/ml (~75 mg/day)
- As effective as Bupropion
- Da Costa (2002) Chest 122:403-8 [PubMed]
- Hall (2002) Arch Gen Psychiatry 59:930-6 [PubMed]
- Nortriptyline
- Background
- Efficacy
- Smokers interested in quitting: 70%
- Smokers who quit without additional help: 7.9%
- Smokers who quit with only advice of physician: 10.2%
- Smokers who quit with Nicotine Replacement: 26%
- Smokers who quit with combined therapy below: 35%
- Behavioral support
- Bupropion
- Nicotine Replacement
- References
VIII. Precautions: Major Depression
- Initial risk of Major Depression exacerbation
- Higher risk in first 6 months of Tobacco Cessation
- Confirm Major Depression control prior to cessation
- Consider Bupropion use for cessation
- Glassman (2001) Lancet 357:1929-32 [PubMed]
IX. Precautions: Medications with no proven efficacy in Tobacco Cessation (avoid)
- Silver acetate (gives Cigarettes bad taste)
- Alprazolam (Xanax) or other Benzodiazepine
- Clonidine (Catapres)
X. Precautions: Devices with increased risk or unknown safety
- Avoid Electronic Cigarette (E-Cigarette)
- Inadequate safety available for these devices and the inhaled vapor compared other Nicotine Replacement forms
- No good evidence that e-cigs assist patients in quitting Nicotine completely (may simply trade one drug for another)
- More than half of e-cig users are dual users (use Tobacco also)
- Emphasize the need to completely quit Tobacco
- Avoid Hookah Pipe (Tobacco smoke drawn through water before inhalation)
- Water does not filter Tobacco-related toxins
- Hookah users tend to smoke for longer and have greater exposure
- References
- (2013) Presc Lett 20(5): 27
- Vardavas (2012) Chest 141(6):1400-6 [PubMed]
- Trtchounian (2011) Tob Control 20:47-52 [PubMed]
XI. Resources
XII. References
- (2014) Presc Lett 21(9): 51
- Gaddey (2022) Am Fam Physician 106(5): 513-22 [PubMed]
- Dalack (1995) Am J Psychiatry 152(3):398-403 [PubMed]
- Lief (1996) Am J Psychiatry 153(3);442 [PubMed]
- Mallin (2002) Am Fam Physician 65(6):1107-17 [PubMed]
- Robbins (1993) Am J Prev Med 9(1):31-3 [PubMed]
- Spring (1995) Am J Clin Nutr 62(6):1181-7 [PubMed]