Appalachian Primary Care Patients' Quit Readiness and Tobacco Treatment Receipt

Introduction: Healthcare providers should facilitate smoking cessation, and primary care is an ideal setting for delivering this evidence-based care. This study's objective was to describe readiness to quit smoking combustible cigarettes among adult Appalachian primary care patients and determine their providers' implementation of an established tobacco treatment model.

Methods: As part of a randomized clinical trial, 298 providers in 10 health systems across 4 states received tobacco treatment training. Periodically between January 2022 and June 2023, anonymous surveys were distributed to patients after primary care visits. The survey included questions about demographics, visit type, smoking status, readiness to quit, and provider behavior related to tobacco treatment implementation. In 2023, descriptive statistics, bivariate tests and logistic regression models were conducted.

Results: Among 1,242 survey respondents, 34.1% reported current smoking. Among those who reported current smoking, 13.9% expressed readiness to quit within the next 30 days and 15.3% reported readiness in 1-6 months while 36.7% indicated "never" wanting to quit. Nearly all providers asked respondents about smoking status (96.9%) and advised them to quit (89.8%); fewer providers engaged in cessation assistance by discussing behavioral counseling, discussing medication options, and/or prescribing medication (25.1%-64.6% across behaviors). Provider behavior was most consistently associated with patient age and visit type.

Conclusions: Nearly one third of Appalachian patients who smoke reported readiness to quit within 6 months and nearly all received advice to quit from their provider. Patients would benefit from more intensive tobacco treatment delivery in primary care settings, with a focus on assisting with quit attempts.