Objective New clinical guidelines endorse the use of low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) for lung cancer screening among selected heavy smokers while recommending patients be counseled about the potential benefits and harms. We developed and field tested a brief, video-based patient decision aid about lung cancer screening. Methods Smokers in a cancer center tobacco treatment program aged 45 to 75 years viewed the video online between November 2011 and September 2012. Acceptability, knowledge, and clarity of values related to the decision were assessed. Results Fifty-two patients completed the study (mean age=58.5 years; mean duration smoking=34.8 years). Acceptability of the aid was high. Most patients (78.8%) indicated greater interest in screening after viewing the aid. Knowledge about lung cancer screening increased significantly as a result of viewing the aid (25.5% of questions answered correctly before the aid, and 74.8% after; P<.01) although understanding of screening eligibility remained poor. Patients reported being clear about which benefits and harms of screening mattered most to them (94.1% and 86.5%, respectively). Conclusions Patients have high information needs related to lung cancer screening. A video-based decision aid may be helpful in promoting informed decision-making, but its impact on lung cancer screening decisions needs to be explored.

Background Since smoking has a profound impact on socioeconomic disparities in illness and death, it is crucial that vulnerable populations of smokers be targeted with treatment. The US Public Health Service recommends that all patients be asked about their smoking at every visit, and that smokers be given brief advice to quit and referred to treatment. Purpose Initiatives to facilitate these practices include the 5 A’s (i.e., Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) and Ask Advise Refer (AAR). Unfortunately, primary care referrals are low, and most smokers referred fail to enroll. This study evaluated the efficacy of the Ask Advise Connect (AAC) approach to linking smokers with treatment in a large, safety-net public healthcare system. Design Pair-matched-two-treatment arm group-randomized trial. Setting/participants Ten safety-net clinics in Houston, TX. Intervention Clinics were randomized to AAC (n=5; intervention) or AAR (n=5; control). Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs) were trained to assess and record the smoking status of all patients at all visits in the electronic health record (EHR). Smokers were given brief advice to quit. In AAC, the names and phone numbers of smokers who agreed to be connected were sent electronically to the Texas Quitline daily, and patients were proactively called within 48 hours. In AAR, smokers were offered a Quitline referral card and encouraged to call on their own. Data were collected between June 2010 and March 2012 and analyzed in 2012. Main Outcome Measure The primary outcome – impact – was defined as the proportion of identified smokers that enrolled in treatment. Results The impact (proportion of identified smokers who enrolled in treatment) of AAC (14.7%) was significantly greater than the impact of AAR (0.5%), t (4) = 14.61, p = 0.0001, OR = 32.10 (95% CI 16.60–62.06). Conclusions AAC has tremendous potential to reduce tobacco-related health disparities.

Background Although many smokers seek Internet-based cessation assistance, few studies have experimentally evaluated long-term cessation rates among cigarette smokers who receive Internet assistance in quitting.Objective The purpose of this study is to describe long-term smoking cessation rates associated with 6 different Internet-based cessation services and the variation among them, to test the hypothesis that interactive and tailored Internet services yield higher long-term quit rates than more static Web-posted assistance, and to explore the possible effects of level of site utilization and a self-reported indicator of depression on long-term cessation rates.Method In 2004-05, a link was placed on the American Cancer Society (ACS) website for smokers who wanted help in quitting via the Internet. The link led smokers to the QuitLink study website, where they could answer eligibility questions, provide informed consent, and complete the baseline survey. Enrolled participants were randomly assigned to receive emailed access to one of five tailored interactive sites provided by cooperating research partners or to a targeted, minimally interactive ACS site with text, photographs, and graphics providing stage-based quitting advice and peer modeling.Results6451 of the visitors met eligibility requirements and completed consent procedures and the baseline survey. All of these smokers were randomly assigned to one of the six experimental groups. Follow-up surveys done online and via telephone interviews at approximately 13 months after randomization yielded 2468 respondents (38%) and found no significant overall quit rate differences among those assigned to the different websites (P = .15). At baseline, 1961 participants (30%) reported an indicator of depression. Post hoc analyses found that this group had significantly lower 13-month quit rates than those who did not report the indicator (all enrolled, 8% vs 12%, P < .001; followed only, 25% vs 31%, P = .003). When the 4490 participants (70%) who did not report an indicator of depression at baseline were separated for analysis, the more interactive, tailored sites, as a whole, were associated with higher quitting rates than the less interactive ACS site: 13% vs 10% (P = .04) among 4490 enrolled and 32% vs 26% (P = .06) among 1798 followed.Conclusions These findings show that Internet assistance is attractive and potentially cost-effective and suggest that tailored, interactive websites may help cigarette smokers who do not report an indicator of depression at baseline to quit and maintain cessation.

Eligible smokers (N = 6,451) visiting the American Cancer Society's Internet site offering cessation assistance were, with informed consent, randomized to receive access either to a static Internet site with quitting advice or to one of five interactive sites provided by cooperating research partners. Three-month follow-up surveys were conducted via online survey with E-mail prompts, or telephone calls, to assess quitting success; 54% of participants provided follow-up data. Results showed no significant overall difference in cessation rates among participants assigned to the interactive or static sites. We found large differences in the utilization of the five interactive sites. When sites were grouped by level of use, a significantly higher reported 3-month cessation rate was observed among participants assigned to the more highly utilized sites than among those assigned to the less utilized sites (12.2% vs. 10.2% of all randomized participants, 26.0% vs. 22.1% of followed participants). These findings show that interactive Internet sites yielding high levels of utilization can increase quitting success among smokers seeking assistance via the Internet.

Key PointsQuestionAre there differences in abstinence rates between patients with and without cancer after treatment in a comprehensive tobacco cessation program delivered in an oncologic setting?FindingsIn this cohort study of 3245 smokers in a tobacco treatment program, mean smoking abstinence rates were 45.1% at the 3-month follow-up, 45.8% at the 6-month follow-up, and 43.7% at the 9-month follow-up; rates did not differ between patients with and without cancer. Patients with head and neck cancer were among those with the highest abstinence rates.MeaningWhen exposed to a comprehensive tobacco treatment program, smokers with and without cancer showed sustained high quit rates and did not differ from each other, suggesting that comprehensive treatment in an oncologic setting may be successful.