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Impact of Baseline Weight on Smoking Cessation and Weight Gain in Quitlines

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

The use and effectiveness of tobacco quitlines by weight is still unknown.

Purpose

This study aims to determine if baseline weight is associated with treatment engagement, cessation, or weight gain following quitline treatment.

Methods

Quitline participants (n = 595) were surveyed at baseline, 3 and 6 months.

Results

Baseline weight was not associated with treatment engagement. In unadjusted analyses, overweight smokers reported higher quit rates and were more likely to gain weight after quitting than obese or normal weight smokers. At 3 months, 40 % of overweight vs. 25 % of normal weight or obese smokers quit smoking (p = 0.01); 42 % of overweight, 32 % of normal weight, and 33 % of obese quitters gained weight (p = 0.05). After adjusting for covariates, weight was not significantly related to cessation (approaching significance at 6 months, p = 0.06) or weight gain.

Conclusions

In the first quitline study of this kind, we found no consistent patterns of association between baseline weight and treatment engagement, cessation, or weight gain.

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Acknowledgments

The project described was supported by Grant Number R21DA026580 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or the National Institutes of Health.

Conflict of Interest

The authors had no conflict of interest with the exception that five authors were employed by Alere Wellbeing (service provider for the five state quitlines).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alere Wellbeing, 999 Third Avenue, Ste 2100, Seattle, WA, 98104, USA

    Terry M. Bush Ph.D., Brooke Magnusson M.A., Lisa Mahoney M.S., Lyndsay Miles M.A. & Susan M. Zbikowski Ph.D.

  2. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Michele D. Levine Ph.D., Yu Cheng Ph.D. & Xiaotian Chen B.S.

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  1. Terry M. Bush Ph.D.
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  2. Michele D. Levine Ph.D.
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  3. Brooke Magnusson M.A.
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  4. Yu Cheng Ph.D.
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  5. Xiaotian Chen B.S.
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  6. Lisa Mahoney M.S.
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  7. Lyndsay Miles M.A.
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  8. Susan M. Zbikowski Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Terry M. Bush Ph.D..

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Bush, T.M., Levine, M.D., Magnusson, B. et al. Impact of Baseline Weight on Smoking Cessation and Weight Gain in Quitlines. ann. behav. med. 47, 208–217 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-013-9537-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-013-9537-z

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