Health care provider use of guideline-based smoking cessation interventions: results from the 2003 Wisconsin Tobacco Survey.

Tobacco use is the chief preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. In Wisconsin, approximately 7300 deaths--representing about 20% of all deaths within our state each year--are attributable to smoking. Nearly half of the estimated 815,000 adult smokers in Wisconsin make a quit attempt each year, but most smokers make unaided quit attempts that have a very low probability of success (< 5%). The 2000 Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline, "Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence," provides recommendations for evidence-based treatments (e.g., counseling, FDA-approved cessation medications) for smoking cessation that can result in long-term abstinence rates of up to 25% or more. The current study provides results from the 2003 Wisconsin Tobacco Survey on the extent to which Wisconsin health care professionals are using Guideline-based interventions to identify smokers and assist them to quit smoking. Results show that in 2003 about 77% of current smokers were asked about tobacco use and about 61% were advised to quit. Rates of cessation assistance ranged from 6% to 22%. Increases in smoking cessation interventions by health care professionals have enormous potential to decrease the smoking prevalence rate and improve the health of Wisconsin smokers.