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Background: The scheduling of elective surgery provides an excellent opportunity for cigarette smoking-cessation interventions. Abstinence from smoking may improve immediate surgical outcomes, and the surgical period represents a teachable moment for modifying smoking behavior. However, a variety of barriers to intervention exist. This qualitative, formative research identified themes to guide the development of a brief intervention used by the providers of surgical services to promote the use of telephone quitlines., Methods: Structured interviews were conducted in 2007 with 19 cigarette smokers either scheduled for or recently receiving surgery at Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN and ten providers of surgical services (anesthesiologists and surgeons)., Results: Prominent patient themes included interest in quitting smoking around the time of surgery, a view of physicians having an important role in their cessation attempts, and a profound lack of knowledge regarding telephone quitline services. Patients were also poorly informed regarding the immediate benefits of quitting to surgical outcomes. Prominent provider themes included a similar ignorance of quitline services and a lack of time to deliver interventions. Although providers expressed interest in referring to quitlines if this could be easily accomplished, they were willing to spend only a limited amount of time learning how to intervene., Conclusions: Both surgical patients and providers are potentially receptive to a quitline-based smoking-cessation intervention in the peri-operative period, but significant barriers exist.

In this pilot project, 41 female weight-concerned smokers were randomly assigned to receive either 12 group sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy for body image concerns or 12 group sessions for weight management. All subjects received open-label bupropion SR, 300 mg daily, exercise instruction, and weekly behavioral counseling for tobacco cessation. At week 12, 7(35%) of the body image participants had 7-day point prevalence smoking abstinence, compared to 5(24%) of the participants in the weight management group (p=0.505).

Many smokers perceive that smoking controls their body weight and that stopping smoking leads to weight gain. This study examined characteristics associated with weight concerns in 72 male smokers enrolled in a controlled trial for smoking cessation. Motivation to quit smoking was found to be significantly lower in those with weight concerns (P < .001). Further investigation is needed to enable the tailoring of interventions for weight-concerned male smokers.

This study examined the adherence rates and the effect of depression on adherence in two studies conducted among smokers with a past history of alcoholism. In both studies, subjects participated in a 12-session group-based exercise intervention for smoking cessation. The target quit date (TQD) was Session 8. Participants in Study 1 were 73 smokers (43% female). Exercise instructions began at Session 8 and continued through Session 12. Mean frequency and number of minutes of exercise decreased during the 4 weeks of exercise treatment (P<.001). Study 2, conducted with 18 smokers (50% female), examined the feasibility of commencing exercise at Session 1, well before the TQD. The mean number of minutes exercised increased from Sessions 1 to 12 (P=.013). In both studies, average session attendance was high (82%). Combining subjects from both studies, depressed smokers at baseline reported greater mean frequency of exercise per week than nondepressed smokers (P=.05). The results suggest that depressed smokers can be engaged in an exercise program. Further research is needed to determine if commencing exercise early during treatment, prior to the TQD, improves adherence.