Proactive, virtual tobacco treatment during cancer care doubled quit rates in collaborative clinical trial held at cancer centers across the country.
A new nationwide study has found that people undergoing cancer treatment are twice as likely to quit smoking when they receive ongoing, virtual support instead of just being told to call a quitline.
Published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the study tested a program that offers regular telehealth counseling and nicotine replacement while patients are in treatment. This approach fit into routine cancer care and helped more patients permanently stop smoking.
Lynne I. Wagner, PhD, a clinical health psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, played a key role in this work as a co-author and leader in the ECOG-ACRIN NCORP Research Base.
Click this link to read more about the study.