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Level Up! An Abstinence Game for Smoking Cessation

Smoking remains a habit for many people, even among those who are motivated to quit. Historically, most smoking cessation interventions have targeted individuals who are ready to quit smoking in the next 30 days, overlooking those who are not yet ready to quit.  Perhaps an abstinence game, Take a Break, can move people in pre-contemplation and contemplation toward quitting.

Guest Authors:  Anna Rhett, PharmD and Ha K. Pham, PharmD, BCACP

Music by Good Talk

There’s an App for That! Can Smartphone Apps Assist with Smoking Cessation?

Despite numerous anti-smoking campaigns, millions of adults continue to use traditional tobacco-cigarettes or e-cigarettes. Nearly 70% of smokers state they want to quit, however, less than 10% are successful.  Disappointingly, less than 60% of smokers report being offered any advice from healthcare professionals when trying to quit.  Smartphone applications are a new option for patients attempting to quit smoking in the digital age, but it is unclear if these apps improve quit rates.

Guest Authors:  Yue Pheng Vang, PharmD and Michelle Balli, PharmD, BCACP

Music by Good Talk

Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Are E-Cigarettes the Solution Tobacco Cessation?

While there are several proven smoking cessation medications available over-the-counter and by prescription, e-cigarettes are being increasingly used for smoking cessation despite the lack of data or official FDA approval for this indication. To appropriately advise our patients, it is important to understand the safety and efficacy of e-cigarette use as a potential smoking cessation aid.

Guest Authors: Diane Kim, PharmD and Amanda Schartel, PharmD, BCACP

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The EAGLE has Landed! Reassuring the Safety and Efficacy of Drugs for Smoking Cessation in Mental Illness

Persons diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder consume nearly half of all cigarettes smoked in the United States!  Seven first-line therapies have shown to increase long-term abstinence rates, with bupropion sustained release (SR) doubling and varenicline tripling the odds of quitting. However, the FDA issued black box warnings in 2009 regarding increased neuropsychiatric events and suicidality with bupropion and varenicline use.  Thus many clinicians have been reluctant to prescribe these agents in persons with mental illness.  The EAGLES study compared the efficacy of non-nicotine therapies to nicotine replacement therapy in smokers with mental illness

TEXT ME — Text Messaging to Promote Behavior Change

With over 75% of people using mobile phones worldwide, text messaging might be a simple, cost-effective platform to encourage lifestyle changes. Several healthcare-related applications and mobile phone text messaging systems have already been designed; yet, very few have undergone rigorous testing to confirm clinical benefit.  The investigators of the Tobacco, Exercise, and Diet Messages (TEXT ME) trial designed a text message-based intervention to encourage lifestyle modifications and evaluated its impact on cardiovascular risk in patients with established CHD. The TEXT ME study provides robust findings to support a simple, inexpensive intervention to modify cardiovascular risk … at least over the short term.