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The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health threat. Smoking and smoking-related lung diseases are risk factors for severe COVID-19 infection. This study investigated whether low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scan results affected the success of 1-year smoking cessation. The Gyeonggi Southern Smoking Support Center performed the residential smoking cessation program from January to December 2018. During the program, LDCT was performed on 292 participants; 6 months later, follow-up via telephone or visit was conducted. Among the 179 participants who succeeded in smoking cessation for 6 months, telephone follow-up was conducted to determine whether there was a 12-month continuous smoking cessation. In order to evaluate the association between LDCT results and 12-month continuous abstinence rate (CAR), logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). The CARs at 6 and 12 months were 61.3% and 31.5%, respectively. Indeterminate or suspicious malignant lung nodules were associated with a higher 12-month CAR (OR, 3.02; 95% CI, 1.15-7.98), whereas psychiatric history was associated with a lower 12-month CAR (OR, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.03-0.15). These results suggest that abnormal lung screening results may encourage smokers to quit smoking.

We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the Korean national five-day residential smoking cessation program and the factors affecting the long-term smoking cessation of participants. The residential smoking cessation program (2017-2018) recruited smokers with a smoking duration ≥ 20 years and who have attempted to quit smoking more than twice and/or smokers with chronic morbidities. Participants underwent an intensive intervention, including individual psychological therapy, group therapy, medical counseling, and pharmacotherapy. The 6-month continuous abstinence rate (CAR) was assessed via self-reports, the urine cotinine levels, and/or expired-air carbon monoxide levels. Logistic regression was used to analyze the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) to assess factors related to smoking cessation. Overall, 484 participants who completed the residential program and questionnaire were evaluated. The 3- and 6-month CAR were 81.82% and 63.22%, respectively. The aOR of 6-month continuous abstinence was lower among participants with severe nicotine dependence (aOR: 0.46, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.26-0.81) and higher among participants with combination therapy of varenicline with short-term nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) (aOR: 1.64, 95% CI: 1.07-2.51), with higher self-efficacy (aOR: 1.97, 95% CI: 1.15-3.37). The residential smoking cessation program was effective. High self-efficacy, combination therapy of varenicline with short-term NRT, and low nicotine dependence were associated with a high 6-month CAR.

Background: In smokers with chronic diseases, we examined the abstinence rates over 6 months and its affecting factors in the context of the Korea National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) smoking cessation program., Methods: To identify 6-month abstinence, we extracted a sample of 15,017 participants using the multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method from the 359,047 individuals enrolled in the 2016 NHIS smoking cessation program and 1500 smokers responded to the telephone survey. From this group, 1245 individuals (48.50 ± 12.55 years; men 89.8%) were enrolled, as they had no missing information for confounding variables. We compared chronic disease distribution between participants and current smokers in the 2016 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We evaluated the factors affecting continuous abstinence rate (CAR) across patients with different chronic diseases: hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidemia (DL), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and major depressive disorder (MDD)., Results: While participation of DM patients was high, the participation of DL patients was relatively low. The CAR over 6 months was 44.74%. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) for continuous abstinence over 6 months was significantly lower in the MDD group than in the no-MDD group (OR 0.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.21 to 0.85). The factors of program completion (complete versus incomplete: OR 3.11, 95% CI 2.43 to 3.98), region (non-metropolitan areas versus Seoul metropolitan area: OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.61), and nicotine dependence (severe versus light or moderate: OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.83) were significantly associated with CAR., Conclusions: The smoking cessation program was not actively recruiting smokers with chronic diseases. The CARs in each disease group were not different from those in the non-disease groups, except that the MDD group had a lower CAR over 6 months than the no-MDD group. Recruiting smokers with chronic diseases and improving their CARs depends on the careful identification of their characteristics., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background and Aims: To assess whether predictors of success in stopping smoking vary as a function of income level in Korean smoking cessation services., Design: Prospective study of predictors of smoking cessation up to 6 months' follow up., Participants: A sample of 954 people (mean age 49.13 ± 10.69 years; 863 [90.5%] men) enrolled in the Korean National Health Insurance Service smoking cessation programme in 2015., Measures: The outcome measure was self-reported continuous abstinence up to 6-month follow up. Predictors were income and other sociodemographic variables as well as smoking-related variables measured at baseline., Results: The continuous 6-month abstinence rate was 30.5%. The adjusted odds of 6-month continuous abstinence were lower among low-income versus the middle- or high-income smokers (OR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.35-0.84), those with severe versus light/moderate cigarette dependence (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.52-0.98), and use of bupropion versus varenicline (OR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.39-0.91). The association between cigarette dependence and outcome was only present among low-income smokers., Conclusions: Lower income, higher cigarette dependence, and choice of bupropion versus varenicline are associated with lower chances of stopping smoking in Korean smoking cessation services, but the association with cigarette dependence is only found in low-income smokers., (© 2019 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction.)