About the Blog Author-John R. Hughes, MD
John R. Hughes, MD is Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and Family Practice at the University of Vermont. Dr. Hughes is board certified in Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry. His major focus has been clinical research on tobacco use. Dr. Hughes received the Ove Ferno Award for research in nicotine dependence and the Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Health. He is a co-founder and past president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, and the Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence. Dr. Hughes has been Chair of the Vermont Tobacco Evaluation and Review Board which oversees VT’s multi-million dollar tobacco control programs. He has over 400 publications on nicotine and other drug dependencies and is one of the world’s most cited tobacco scientist. Dr. Hughes has been a consultant on tobacco policy to the World Health Organization, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the White House. His current research is on how tobacco users and marijuana users stop or reduce use on their own, novel methods to prompt quit attempts by such users, whether smoking cessation reduces reward sensitivity and whether stopping e-cigarettes causes withdrawal. Dr Hughes has received fees from companies who develop smoking cessation devices, medications and services, from governmental and academic institutions, and from public and private organizations that promote tobacco control.
News
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Do We Need Tobacco Treatment Specialists?
In the past blogs I have reviewed the evidence whether treatment from a trained TTS produces higher quit rates than from a less-intensive non-TTS therapy. The Cochrane review of this question examined 5 RCTs and stated “We failed to detect a greater effect of intensive counselling compared to brief counselling (5 trials, RR 0.96, 95% CI 0.74 to 1.25).” However, my earlier journal club article pointed out several observational trials that found trained TTS achieves a higher quit rate... -
Does specialist, in‐person treatment improve quit rates?
Many of us in ATTUD provide in‐person individual counseling and believe that, for some smokers, increased intensity treatment provided by specialists increases quit rates. Many studies have shown that in‐person therapy provides higher outcomes than no treatment, brief advice, internet and self‐help materials. However, fewer studies have compared in‐person vs telephone counseling. I think showing in‐person counseling more effective than phone‐counseling, at least in some smokers,... -
Keeping Up on Scientific Data on the Efficacy of Treatments for Smoking
Each year the Cochrane Colloboration publishes an update of all their reviews on smoking (www.thecochranelibrary.com). This is an easy way to check up on new treatment findings and whether any prior findings are no longer thought true. I like the Cochrane because it uses the same methods to test all the treatments and really strives to be unbiased (note I am a un‐reimbursed member of Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Review Group). This year’s summary (Hartmann‐Boyce et al, Addiction, epub ahead of print) includes 2 new reviews an 11... -
Do Specialists Obtain Higher Quit Rates and, If So, Why
A recent article (McDermott et al, Nicotine and Tobacco Research , advance publication) briefly reviewed four studies that found tobacco treatment specialists were associated with higher quit rates than non-specialists. Unfortunately, these were not randomized trials, but observational findings and thus the differences in specialist vs nonspecialist outcomes could be due to other factors (e.g. client characteristics). Nevertheless, this is important observational evidence to justify allocating extra resources to intensive treatment programs. Now if we could just obtain some empirical data to let us a priori know which smoker...