Problem/Objective: To assess the prevalence and effectiveness of patient reported smoking cessation counseling (SCC) and to determine whether certain patient demographic factors are independently associated with the provision of counseling by physicians.

Methods: Data from the COMMIT cohort of current (n=2,535) and former (n=1,194) adult smokers from twenty U.S. communities were examined prospectively from 2001 to 2005 to ascertain current smoking status, quit attempts, and the extent of SCC received from physicians.

Results: After adjustment for age, gender, race, income, and cigarettes per day, patients who were asked about smoking status and either advised to stop smoking [RR 1.56, p<0.05] or prescribed pharmacotherapy [RR 1.56, p <0.01] were significantly more likely to quit smoking at follow-up. Likewise, patients who were asked about smoking status and advised to quit smoking [RR 0.38, p<0.05], prescribed pharmacotherapy [RR 0.53, p<0.05], or advised to set a quit date [RR 0.38, p<0.01] were significantly less likely to relapse at follow-up. In addition, patients with lower income and less education were found to be significantly less likely to be asked about smoking status and non-Hispanic black patients and those with less income were found to be significantly less likely to be prescribed pharmacotherapy.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that opportunities exist for physicians to provide SCC in the clinical setting. There appears to be several demographic and clinical factors that can potentially influence the provision of SCC. Further research is needed to better understand what aspects of SCC are related to smoking cessation.