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Background: Hispanic/Latinx smokers living in the United States face unique challenges in quitting smoking. This study evaluated the efficacy of a culturally relevant, Spanish‐language, extended self‐help smoking cessation intervention among Hispanic smokers. Methods: A 2‐arm parallel randomized controlled trial was conducted with Hispanic/Latinx smokers living in the United States who preferred health information in Spanish and smoked 5 or more cigarettes per week. Participants were randomly allocated to receive Libre del Cigarrillo (LDC), which consisted of 11 booklets and 9 pamphlets mailed monthly over 18 months, or the usual care (UC), which was a single Spanish‐language self‐help booklet from the National Cancer Institute. The primary outcome was self‐reported 7‐day point prevalence smoking abstinence assessed 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after the baseline. Eight prespecified moderators of the intervention were evaluated. Cost‐effectiveness was also evaluated. All statistical tests were 2‐sided. Results: Data from all participants randomized to LDC (n = 714) or UC (n = 703) were used for analyses after multiple imputation to manage missing data. Generalized estimating equation analyses indicated that LDC abstinence rates were higher (P <.001) across all assessments. Logistic regression analyses revealed that at 24 months, the abstinence rate was greater for LDC (33.1%) than UC (24.3%; odds ratio, 1.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.18‐2.02; P =.002). Men exhibited a strong intervention effect at all assessments (P values <.001), whereas the intervention effect for women was observed only at 6 and 12 months (P values <.018). In comparison with UC, the incremental cost per quitter in the LDC arm was $648.43 at 18 months and $683.93 at 24 months. Conclusions: A culturally relevant, Spanish‐language intervention was efficacious and cost‐effective for smoking cessation. Lay Summary: Research is needed to develop interventions for ethnic minority smokers.The aim of the current study was to test a Spanish‐language adaptation of a validated and easily implemented self‐help smoking cessation intervention in a nationwide randomized controlled trial.The findings demonstrated that the intervention produced greater smoking abstinence in comparison with a standard self‐help booklet.Participants also were more satisfied with the intervention, and it was cost‐effective.Efforts aimed at promoting tobacco abstinence in this underserved population could have significant public health implications, including potential reductions in cancer health disparities associated with tobacco smoking. This large, nationwide randomized controlled trial demonstrates that a culturally relevant, Spanish‐language, extended self‐help intervention is efficacious and cost‐effective for smoking cessation, and it supports the tailoring of interventions to Hispanics by identifying and integrating cultural values. The evaluated intervention approach has potential for broad dissemination and reach to reduce cigarette smoking and has implications for cancer prevention because smoking is the primary risk factor for lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death among Hispanic men and is second only to breast cancer among Hispanic women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Abstaining from smoking after a cancer diagnosis is critical to mitigating the risk of multiple adverse health outcomes. Although many patients with cancer attempt to quit smoking, the majority relapse. The current randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of adapting an evidence‐based smoking relapse prevention (SRP) intervention for patients with cancer. Methods: The trial enrolled 412 patients newly diagnosed with cancer who had recently quit smoking. Participants were randomized to usual care (UC) or SRP. Participants in the UC group received the institution's standard of care for treating tobacco use. Participants in the SRP group in addition received a targeted educational DVD plus a validated self‐help intervention for preventing smoking relapse. The primary outcome was smoking abstinence at 2 months, 6 months, and 12 months. Results: Abstinence rates for participants in the SRP and UC groups were 75% versus 71% at 2 months and 69% versus 64% at 6 months (Ps >.20). At 12 months, abstinence rates among survivors were 68% for those in the SRP group and 63% for those in the UC group (P =.38). Post hoc analyses revealed that across 2 months and 6 months, patients who were married/partnered were more likely to be abstinent after SRP than UC (P =.03). Conclusions: A smoking relapse prevention intervention did not reduce relapse rates overall, but did appear to have benefited those participants who had the social support of a partner. Future work is needed to extend this effect to the larger population of patients. The current randomized controlled trial evaluates the efficacy of an evidence‐based smoking relapse prevention intervention adapted for patients with cancer. Although the intervention does not appear to increase overall abstinence rates, it seems to benefit those with the social support of a partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To the authors' knowledge, there are currently no standardized measures of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure in patients diagnosed with cancer, and this gap hinders the conduct of studies examining the impact of tobacco on cancer treatment outcomes. The objective of the current study was to evaluate and refine questionnaire items proposed by an expert task force to assess tobacco use.Methods: Trained interviewers conducted cognitive testing with cancer patients aged ≥21 years with a history of tobacco use and a cancer diagnosis of any stage and organ site who were recruited at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Iterative rounds of testing and item modification were conducted to identify and resolve cognitive issues (comprehension, memory retrieval, decision/judgment, and response mapping) and instrument navigation issues until no items warranted further significant modification.Results: Thirty participants (6 current cigarette smokers, 1 current cigar smoker, and 23 former cigarette smokers) were enrolled from September 2014 to February 2015. The majority of items functioned well. However, qualitative testing identified wording ambiguities related to cancer diagnosis and treatment trajectory, such as "treatment" and "surgery"; difficulties with lifetime recall; errors in estimating quantities; and difficulties with instrument navigation. Revisions to item wording, format, order, response options, and instructions resulted in a questionnaire that demonstrated navigational ease as well as good question comprehension and response accuracy.Conclusions: The Cancer Patient Tobacco Use Questionnaire (C-TUQ) can be used as a standardized item set to accelerate the investigation of tobacco use in the cancer setting. Cancer 2016;122:1728-34. © 2016 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Cancer patients who continue smoking are at increased risk for adverse outcomes including reduced treatment efficacy and poorer survival rates. Many patients spontaneously quit smoking after diagnosis; however, relapse is understudied. The goal of this study was to evaluate smoking-related, affective, cognitive, and physical variables as predictors of smoking after surgical treatment among patients with lung cancer and head and neck cancer. METHODS: A longitudinal study was conducted with 154 patients (57% male) who recently quit smoking. Predictor variables were measured at baseline (ie, time of surgery); smoking behavior was assessed at 2, 4, 6, and 12 months after surgery. Analyses of 7-day point prevalence were performed using a Generalized Estimating Equations approach. RESULTS: Relapse rates varied significantly depending on presurgery smoking status. At 12 months after surgery, 60% of patients who smoked during the week prior to surgery had resumed smoking versus only 13% who were abstinent prior to surgery. Smoking rates among both groups were relatively stable across the 4 follow-ups. For patients smoking before surgery (N = 101), predictors of smoking relapse included lower quitting self-efficacy, higher depression proneness, and greater fears about cancer recurrence. For patients abstinent before surgery (N = 53), higher perceived difficulty quitting and lower cancer-related risk perceptions predicted smoking relapse. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts to encourage early cessation at diagnosis, and increased smoking relapse-prevention efforts in the acute period following surgery, may promote long-term abstinence. Several modifiable variables are identified to target in future smoking relapse-prevention interventions for cancer patients. Cancer 2013. © 2012 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]