Individuals Reporting Past 3-month Smoked Stimulant Use Are Placed at Risk for Infection and Injury Amid COVID-19.

OBJECTIVES: Smoking stimulants, such as methamphetamine and "crack" cocaine, can spread infections, including hepatitis C and COVID-19, and lead to injuries, particularly when individuals share or use makeshift pipes. The purpose of the study was to assess the practices of people who inhale ("smoke") stimulants to guide future clinical harm reduction efforts. METHODS: Anonymous surveys were administered to participants reporting inhalation of crack cocaine and/or methamphetamine in the past 3 months. Participants were eligible if they sought services from an outreach team staffed by a municipal syringe service program (SSP) or if they were patients at a low-threshold substance use disorder treatment program, the Massachusetts General Hospital Bridge Clinic. RESULTS: The survey was administered to 68 total participants, 30% of whom were recruited in the Massachusetts General Hospital Bridge Clinic and 70% through SSP outreach. Unsafe smoking practices were reported by 93% of participants. Among the 46% of participants surveyed who both smoked and injected stimulants, 61% of those participants stated that they injected instead of smoked stimulants because of lack of access to pipes. Amid COVID-19, 35% of participants adopted safer smoking practices. Most participants reported that they would be more likely to attend an SSP or health center if pipes were provided. CONCLUSIONS: Inhalational practices that place participants at risk of injury and illness are common. Providing safer smoking equipment may promote health and engage individuals in care.

Comparative Effectiveness of Postdischarge Smoking Cessation Interventions for Hospital Patients: The Helping HAND 4 Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Smoking cessation interventions for hospitalized patients must continue after discharge to improve long-term tobacco abstinence. How health systems can best deliver postdischarge tobacco treatment is uncertain. Objective: To determine if health system-based tobacco cessation treatment after hospital discharge produces more long-term tobacco abstinence than referral to a community-based quitline. Design, Setting, and Participants: This randomized clinical trial was conducted September 2018 to November 2020 in 3 hospitals in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Cigarette smokers admitted to a study hospital who received brief in-hospital tobacco treatment and wanted to quit smoking were recruited for participation and randomized for postdischarge treatment to health system-based Transitional Tobacco Care Management (TTCM) or electronic referral to a community-based quitline (QL). Both multicomponent interventions offered smoking cessation counseling and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for up to 3 months. Data were analyzed from February 1, 2021, to April 25, 2022. Interventions: TTCM provided 8 weeks of NRT at discharge and 7 automated calls with a hospital-based counselor call-back option. The QL intervention sent referrals from the hospital electronic health record to the state quitline, which offered 5 counseling calls and an NRT sample. Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcome was biochemically verified past 7-day tobacco abstinence at 6 months. Self-reported point-prevalence and continuous tobacco abstinence and tobacco treatment utilization were assessed 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge. Results: A total of 1409 participants (mean [SD] age, 51.7 [12.6] years; 784 [55.6%] women; mean [SD] 16.4 [10.6] cigarettes/day) were recruited, including 706 randomized to TTCM and 703 randomized to QL. Participants were comparable at baseline, including 216 Black participants (15.3%), 82 Hispanic participants (5.8%), and 1089 White participants (77.3%). At 1 and 3 months after discharge, more TTCM participants than QL participants used cessation counseling (1 month: 245 participants [34.7%] vs 154 participants [21.9%]; 3 months: 248 participants [35.1%] vs 123 participants [17.5%]; P < .001) and pharmacotherapy (1 month: 455 participants [64.4%] vs 324 participants [46.1%]; 3 months: 367 participants [52.0%] vs 264 participants [37.6%]; P < .001). More TTCM than QL participants reported continuous abstinence for 3 months (RR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.06-1.58) and point-prevalence abstinence at 1 month (RR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.08-1.35) and 3 months (RR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.09-1.37) but not at 6 months (RR, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.99-1.29). The primary outcome, biochemically verified point-prevalence abstinence at 6 months, was not statistically significantly different between groups (19.9% vs 16.9%; RR, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.92-1.50). Conclusions and Relevance: In this randomized clinical trial, biochemically verified tobacco abstinence rates were not significantly different between groups at the 6-month follow-up. However, the health system-based model was superior to the community-based quitline model throughout the 3 months of active treatment. A longer duration of postdischarge treatment may sustain the superiority of the health system-based model. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03603496.

Cigarette Smoking and Risk Perceptions During the COVID-19 Pandemic Reported by Recently Hospitalized Participants in a Smoking Cessation Trial.

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease. Understanding smokers' responses to the pandemic will help assess its public health impact and inform future public health and provider messages to smokers. OBJECTIVE: To assess risk perceptions and change in tobacco use among current and former smokers during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey conducted in May-July 2020 (55% response rate) PARTICIPANTS: 694 current and former daily smokers (mean age 53, 40% male, 78% white) who had been hospitalized pre-COVID-19 and enrolled into a smoking cessation clinical trial at hospitals in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. MAIN MEASURES: Perceived risk of COVID-19 due to tobacco use; changes in tobacco consumption and interest in quitting tobacco use; self-reported quitting and relapse since January 2020. KEY RESULTS: 68% (95% CI, 65-72%) of respondents believed that smoking increases the risk of contracting COVID-19 or having a more severe case. In adjusted analyses, perceived risk was higher in Massachusetts where COVID-19 had already surged than in Pennsylvania and Tennessee which were pre-surge during survey administration (AOR 1.56, 95% CI, 1.07-2.28). Higher perceived COVID-19 risk was associated with increased interest in quitting smoking (AOR 1.72, 95% CI 1.01-2.92). During the pandemic, 32% (95% CI, 27-37%) of smokers increased, 37% (95% CI, 33-42%) decreased, and 31% (95% CI, 26-35%) did not change their cigarette consumption. Increased smoking was associated with higher perceived stress (AOR 1.49, 95% CI 1.16-1.91). Overall, 11% (95% CI, 8-14%) of respondents who smoked in January 2020 (pre-COVID-19) had quit smoking at survey (mean, 6 months later) while 28% (95% CI, 22-34%) of former smokers relapsed. Higher perceived COVID-19 risk was associated with higher odds of quitting and lower odds of relapse. CONCLUSIONS: Most smokers believed that smoking increased COVID-19 risk. Smokers' responses to the pandemic varied, with increased smoking related to stress and increased quitting associated with perceived COVID-19 vulnerability.

Perceived risk, attitudes, and behavior of cigarette smokers and nicotine vapers receiving buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking may increase the risk of COVID-19 complications, reinforcing the urgency of smoking cessation in populations with high smoking prevalence such as individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD). Whether the COVID-19 pandemic has altered perceptions, motivation to quit, or tobacco use among cigarette smokers and nicotine e-cigarette vapers with OUD is unknown. METHODS: A telephone survey was conducted in March-July 2020 of current cigarette smokers or nicotine vapers with OUD who were stable on buprenorphine treatment at five Boston (MA) area community health centers. The survey assessed respondents' perceived risk of COVID-19 due to smoking or vaping, interest in quitting, quit attempts and change in tobacco consumption during the pandemic. RESULTS: 222/520 patients (43 %) completed the survey, and 145 were asked questions related to COVID-19. Of these, 61 % smoked cigarettes only, 13 % vaped nicotine only, and 26 % were dual users. Nearly 80 % of participants believed that smoking and vaping increased their risk of COVID-19 infection or complications. Smokers with this belief reported an increased interest in quitting (AOR 4.6, 95 % CI:1.7-12.4). Overall, 49 % of smokers and 42 % of vapers reported increased interest in quitting due to the pandemic; 24 % and 20 %, respectively, reported attempting to quit since the pandemic. However, 35 % of smokers and 27 % of vapers reported increasing smoking and vaping, respectively, during the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Most patients with OUD believed that smoking and vaping increased their vulnerability to COVID-19, half reported increased interest in quitting, but others reported increasing smoking and vaping during the COVID-19 pandemic.