Smoking status and smoking cessation intervention among U.S. adults hospitalized for asthma exacerbation

In a previous multicenter study during 1999-2000, we found a high prevalence of smoking among patients hospitalized for asthma exacerbations (35%) and suboptimal smoking cessation efforts. There have been no recent multicenter efforts to examine the smoking status and implementation of smoking cessation efforts among patients hospitalized for asthma exacerbation.

To investigate the prevalence of cigarette smoking and the proportion and characteristics of patients who received an inpatient smoking cessation intervention.

We conducted a secondary analysis of a 25-center observational study, which included 597 U.S. adults hospitalized for asthma exacerbation during 2012-2013.

Among the analytic cohort, 215 (36%) were current smokers. In the multivariable model, compared with patients with private health insurance, those with public health insurance (odds ratio [OR] 1.71 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.06-2.77]) or no health insurance (OR 1.75 [95% CI, 1.02-2.99]) were more likely to be current smokers. By contrast, patients with a previous evaluation by an asthma specialist in the past 12 months (OR 0.49 [95% CI, 0.28-0.86]) and use of inhaled corticosteroids (OR 0.63 [95% CI, 0.43-0.93]) were less likely to be current smokers. Among current smokers, only 55% received smoking cessation interventions during their hospitalization. In the multivariable model, current smokers who had public health insurance (OR 0.25 [95% CI, 0.07-0.82]) or no health insurance (OR 0.26 [95% CI, 0.07-0.94]) were less likely to receive inpatient smoking cessation interventions compared with those with private health insurance.

Our findings showed a persistently high prevalence of smokers among U.S. patients hospitalized for asthma exacerbations and an underutilized opportunity to provide this at-risk population with smoking cessation interventions.