Quit rates at one-year follow-up of Alaska Native Medical Center Tobacco Cessation Program.

The prevalence of tobacco use in the Alaska Native population, young and old, is unusually high, as high as 50% in both the adult men and women. A corresponding rise in lung cancer cases and mortality rates is directly attributable to high tobacco use rates. The Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC) implemented a tobacco cessation program that integrates the use of behavioral modification classes and nicotine patches. The authors report preliminary results of the ANMC program tobacco cessation program. In June 1992, the ANMC and the Alaska Area Native Health Service began a tobacco cessation program for Alaska Natives in the Anchorage area using behavioral modification classes and transdermal nicotine patches. Patients were subsequently followed at three-month intervals for a year to assess smoking status. To date, 193 people have completed the program with at least three months having elapsed since completion of classes. The quit rates at three, six, nine, and twelve months were 31% , 30%, 24%, 21%, respectively. The long-term quit rates for this tobacco cessation program are comparable to the rates of other studies which have included both behavioral modification and transdermal nicotine. The cost of such a secondary prevention program is outweighed by both the anticipated decreases in medical costs related to long term tobacco use and the more subjective benefit of improved health for Alaska Natives.