Is self-reported 7-day point prevalence abstinence an useful measure for smoking cessation effectiveness among individuals with mental disorders?

Abstract

Smoking rates among individuals with mental disorders are higher compared to general population. We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a smoking cessation treatment among individuals with and without mental disorders. Self-report 7-day point prevalence was used to assess abstinence status among ‘intention to treat’ (n = 1,213) and ‘completers-only’ (n = 578) samples. Participants were distributed in (1) ND-only; (2) ND and other substance use disorder (ND-SUD); (3) ND associated with mental disorder but no other SUD (ND-MD); and (4) co-morbid ND, SUD and MD (ND-SUMD). The treatment program was composed by six weeks of group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and medical consultations. Multivariate logistic regression models were applied. Rates of abstinence between ND-only and both ND-MD and ND-SUMD differed in the ‘intention-to-treat’ sample, with the former group showing the best rate (62.5%, 48% and 45.4% respectively). ND-SUD had the second-best rate of abstinence (56.1%). Differences between groups were not observed among ‘completers-only’. Self-report 7-day point prevalence abstinence is economical and reliable to be used in low to middle-income countries. In this study, it showed that the 6-week smoking cessation treatment had a positive effect among completers, which supports the importance of investing in treatment to decrease smoking prevalence in this population.

Keywords:

• Abstinence
• nicotine dependence
• mental disorders
• substance use disorders
• tobacco treatment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior.