Intermediate cessation outcomes among quitline callers during a national tobacco education campaign

From March 19 through June 10, 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the first federally funded National Tobacco Education Campaign: Tips From Former Smokers (Tips). This study examined the campaign's impact on quitline callers' intermediate cessation outcomes.

We used quitline data from 23 states to examine changes in enrollment, service utilization, quit attempts, and self-reported quitting for 7 days or longer during Tips versus a similar time period in 2011. We used multivariate models to examine the relationship between Tips exposure (measured as gross rating points [GRPs]) and cessation outcomes during the campaign in 2012. We also assessed whether the Tips campaign's impact differed by state tobacco control funding.

Compared with similar weeks in 2011, the number of quitline callers and callers who received counseling and/or nicotine replacement therapies increased by 88.6% (48,738 in 2011 vs. 91,911 during Tips) and 70.8% (40,546 in 2011 vs. 69,254 during Tips), respectively. Greater numbers of callers reported having made 24-hr quit attempts or quitting for 7 days or longer during the campaign. Higher Tips campaign GRPs were positively associated with quit attempts and with quitting for 7 days or longer among persons from states with higher tobacco control funding. In states with lower funding, the highest GRP group (2,000+ GRPs) had lower levels of cessation compared with the middle GRP group (1,200-1,999 GRPs).

An evidence-based national tobacco education campaign with adequate reach and frequency can lead to substantial increases in quitline use and, to a lesser degree, intermediate cessation outcomes.