Medicaid expansion linked to smoking cessation in Pitt analysis
Researchers analyzed responses from more than 36,000 low-income adults without dependent children to an annual telephone health behavior survey by the
In comparing smoking-related answers to the survey, they found 8.1 percent of the newly covered low-income adults reported that they'd quit smoking in the prior year, compared with 6 percent of low-income adults in the 19 states without expanded Medicaid coverage.
The findings were published online and scheduled for an upcoming issue of the journal Medical Care.
"Smoking cessation is notoriously difficult to achieve," said senior author
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in
"There are many explanations for why new Medicaid enrollees may be motivated to quit smoking when they engage with health care services," said lead author
However, Koma said the 8.1 percent rate of smoking cessation is still low when compared to the 68.9 percent of adults who say they want to quit.
"The question remains whether or not there will be sufficient funds and support to continue to improve the health outcomes of these vulnerable populations moving forward," he said.
The research was funded by the
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