Outcomes for a Public Hospital Tobacco Cessation Program: The Cook County Health and Hospitals System Experience

The objective of this study is to determine the rate and predictors of sustained smoking cessation for a cohort of smokers exposed to a guideline-based health education program delivered during routine clinical care at an urban public hospital. This is a retrospective analysis of 755 public hospital system patients who had at least two health educator contacts embedded in routine clinical care, with the latter contact 12–18 months after the baseline. The education occurred during visits to primary care, specialty clinics, urgent/episodic care, or during hospitalization. The assessment of smoking status is determined by the health educators as part of their routine assessment and recorded in the program’s database. The primary outcomes are self-reported 12-month sustained smoking cessation at the 12–18 month contact and predictors of cessation. The cohort is predominantly minority smokers (African American 69 % and Latino 15 %) and uninsured (70 %) or on Medicaid (13 %). The sustained cessation rate was 9.3 %. Latino ethnicity, smoking 1–9 cigarettes/day at baseline, reporting smoke-free home, and additional educator contact in the year after the baseline were independent predictors of sustained cessation in the multivariate analysis. Smokers with multiple risks for poor cessation outcomes exposed to a guideline-based program of health education during routine healthcare encounters had sustained smoking cessation rates that compare favorably with published National Health Interview Study population cessation rates. An additional educator contact after the baseline was a predictor of cessation. The findings support development of cessation programs in which health educators are integrated into clinical care settings.