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

Background: 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.

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

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

Results: 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.

Conclusion: 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.