Time trends in access to smoking cessation support for people with depression or severe mental illness: a cohort study in English primary care
Objectives To investigate delivery of smoking cessation interventions, recorded quit attempts and successful quitting rates within primary care in smokers with depression or severe mental illness (SMI) compared with those without.Design Longitudinal cohort study using primary healthcare records.Sett...
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BMJ Publishing Group
2021-12-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/12/e048341.full |
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| author | Milena Falcaro Kate R Walters David Osborn Scott Weich Joseph Hayes Lisa Couperthwaite |
| author_facet | Milena Falcaro Kate R Walters David Osborn Scott Weich Joseph Hayes Lisa Couperthwaite |
| author_sort | Milena Falcaro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives To investigate delivery of smoking cessation interventions, recorded quit attempts and successful quitting rates within primary care in smokers with depression or severe mental illness (SMI) compared with those without.Design Longitudinal cohort study using primary healthcare records.Setting English primary care.Participants 882 849 patients registered with participating practices recorded as current smokers during 2007–2014, including three groups: (1) 13 078 with SMI, (2) 55 630 with no SMI but recent depression and (3) 814 141 with no SMI nor recent depression.Outcomes Recorded advice to quit smoking, referrals to smoking cessation services, prescriptions for smoking cessation medication, recorded quit attempts and changes of smoking status.Results The majority (>70%) of smokers had recorded smoking cessation advice. This was consistently higher in those with SMI than the other cohorts of patients, although the gap greatly reduced in more recent years. Increases in smoking cessation advice over time were not accompanied by increases in recorded attempts to quit or changes of smoking status. Overall nicotine replacement therapy prescribing by general practitioners (GPs) was higher in those with SMI (10.1%) and depression (8.7%) than those without (5.9%), but a downward time trend was observed in all groups. Bupropion and varenicline prescribing was very low and lower for those with SMI. Few smokers (<5%) had referrals to stop smoking services, though this increased over time, but no significant differences were observed between those with and without mental health problems.Conclusions There was no evidence of consistent inequalities in access to GP-delivered smoking cessation interventions for people with mental health conditions. Smoking cessation advice was widely reported as taking place in all groups. In order to address the widening gap in smoking prevalence in those with poor mental health compared with those without, the emphasis should be on addressing the quality of advice and support given. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-642ea2c784a6432a883c804a56ae82e2 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-642ea2c784a6432a883c804a56ae82e22025-08-20T01:55:46ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552021-12-01111210.1136/bmjopen-2020-048341Time trends in access to smoking cessation support for people with depression or severe mental illness: a cohort study in English primary careMilena Falcaro0Kate R Walters1David Osborn2Scott Weich3Joseph Hayes4Lisa Couperthwaite5Centre for Cancer Screening, Prevention and Early Diagnosis, Queen Mary University of London, London, UKPrimary Care and Population Health, University College London, London, UKDivision of Psychiatry, UCL, London, UKSchool of Health and Related Research, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UKDivision of Psychiatry, UCL, London, UKMcPin Foundation, London, UKObjectives To investigate delivery of smoking cessation interventions, recorded quit attempts and successful quitting rates within primary care in smokers with depression or severe mental illness (SMI) compared with those without.Design Longitudinal cohort study using primary healthcare records.Setting English primary care.Participants 882 849 patients registered with participating practices recorded as current smokers during 2007–2014, including three groups: (1) 13 078 with SMI, (2) 55 630 with no SMI but recent depression and (3) 814 141 with no SMI nor recent depression.Outcomes Recorded advice to quit smoking, referrals to smoking cessation services, prescriptions for smoking cessation medication, recorded quit attempts and changes of smoking status.Results The majority (>70%) of smokers had recorded smoking cessation advice. This was consistently higher in those with SMI than the other cohorts of patients, although the gap greatly reduced in more recent years. Increases in smoking cessation advice over time were not accompanied by increases in recorded attempts to quit or changes of smoking status. Overall nicotine replacement therapy prescribing by general practitioners (GPs) was higher in those with SMI (10.1%) and depression (8.7%) than those without (5.9%), but a downward time trend was observed in all groups. Bupropion and varenicline prescribing was very low and lower for those with SMI. Few smokers (<5%) had referrals to stop smoking services, though this increased over time, but no significant differences were observed between those with and without mental health problems.Conclusions There was no evidence of consistent inequalities in access to GP-delivered smoking cessation interventions for people with mental health conditions. Smoking cessation advice was widely reported as taking place in all groups. In order to address the widening gap in smoking prevalence in those with poor mental health compared with those without, the emphasis should be on addressing the quality of advice and support given.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/12/e048341.full |
| spellingShingle | Milena Falcaro Kate R Walters David Osborn Scott Weich Joseph Hayes Lisa Couperthwaite Time trends in access to smoking cessation support for people with depression or severe mental illness: a cohort study in English primary care BMJ Open |
| title | Time trends in access to smoking cessation support for people with depression or severe mental illness: a cohort study in English primary care |
| title_full | Time trends in access to smoking cessation support for people with depression or severe mental illness: a cohort study in English primary care |
| title_fullStr | Time trends in access to smoking cessation support for people with depression or severe mental illness: a cohort study in English primary care |
| title_full_unstemmed | Time trends in access to smoking cessation support for people with depression or severe mental illness: a cohort study in English primary care |
| title_short | Time trends in access to smoking cessation support for people with depression or severe mental illness: a cohort study in English primary care |
| title_sort | time trends in access to smoking cessation support for people with depression or severe mental illness a cohort study in english primary care |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/12/e048341.full |
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