To whom do psychiatrists offer smoking-cessation counseling?

Individuals with mental illness have high rates of tobacco dependence; however, little is known about what influences a psychiatrist's decision to offer smoking-cessation counseling to smoking patients.

Using the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, the authors identified 1,610 psychiatric office visits for patients who smoke. They investigated the relationship between patient and visit characteristics and smoking-cessation counseling with logistic regression.

Psychiatrists offered cessation counseling at 12.4% of the visits for smoking patients. The adjusted probability of receiving smoking-cessation counseling was significantly higher for those older than 50; for those with a medical diagnosis of obesity, hypertension, or diabetes mellitus; for those in a rural location; and for those having an initial visit. Those with bipolar affective disorder were more likely to receive smoking-cessation counseling than those with depression.

Psychiatrists may be missing opportunities to offer smoking-cessation counseling to patients who smoke.