Is Making Smoking Status a Vital Sign Sufficient to Increase Cessation Support Actions in Clinical Practice?

Article Figures & Data

Table 1.

Baseline Characteristics of Smokers from 2 Clinics (N=332)

Characteristics	Owned Clinic (n = 188)	Contract Clinic (n = 144)
*P < .025; all other comparisons are not statistically significant.
Sex (% female)	55	61
Age (mean; years)	45	41*
Marital status (% married)	72.2	65.4
Education (% > high school)	53.4	52.1
Health excellent or very good	62.5	59
Advised to quit smoking in last year	56	60
Satisfied or very satisfied with clinic help to quit smoking	67.0	68.4

Table 2.

Comparison of Clinic Actions Before and After Implementation of Smoking Status as a Vital Sign

	Owned Clinic		Contract Clinic		Overall
Clinic Action	Baseline (%)	Change (%)	Baseline (%)	Change (%)	Baseline (%)	Change (%)
NRT = nicotine replacement therapy
Documented tobacco use	41.5	+30.5	31.8	+55.8	38.0	+40.0
Assessed interest in quitting	21.3	−10.8	31.5	−1.6	24.1	−4.7
Quit date discussion	4.0	−2.0	1.8	−1.8	3.3	−2.0
Advised to quit	28.7	−10.9	44.8	−25.0	33.5	−16.0
Written information provided	4.6	+6.6	0.0	+6.8	3.2	+6.0
NRT discussion	10.8	−6.2	20.6	−17.3	14.0	−9.7