The Potential Impact of Widespread Cessation Treatment for Smokers With Depression

Experts recommend integrating smoking-cessation treatments within U.S. mental health settings, but the population health benefits of doing so have not been estimated. This study simulates the impact of widespread cessation treatment for patients with depression under best-case treatment and maximum potential cessation scenarios.

Cessation interventions were simulated for U.S. adult smokers seeing a health professional for depression from 2020 to 2100. Interventions included (1) Any Treatment (behavioral counseling, pharmacological, combination) and (2) Pharmacological Treatment (including counseling), combined with increased mental health service utilization each. These were compared with a maximum potential cessation scenario where all patients with major depression quit smoking. Analyses were conducted in 2016-2020.

Widespread uptake of Any Treatment among patients with depression would avert 32,000 deaths and result in 138,000 life-years gained by 2100; Any Treatment combined with 100% mental health service utilization would result in 53,000 and 231,000, respectively. Pharmacological Treatment would avert 125,000 deaths, with 540,000 life-years gained. Pharmacological Treatment combined with 100% mental health service utilization would result in 203,000 deaths averted and 887,000 life-years gained. Health gains under best-case treatment scenarios represent modest fractions of those projected under maximum potential cessation scenarios at current mental health service utilization levels (835,000 deaths averted, 3.73 million life-years gained) and at 100% utilization (1.11 million deaths averted, 5.07 million life years gained).

Providing smoking-cessation treatment to patients with depression and increasing mental health service utilization would reduce the toll of tobacco on this population. These gains would be considerably larger if cessation treatments were more effective.