Addressing Smoking in Musculoskeletal Specialty Care.

J Bone Joint Surg Am · Nov 17 2021 · Review

Thayer LS, Tiffany EM, Carreira DS

Peachtree Orthopedics, Atlanta, Georgia

General Orthopaedics

SUMMARY — THE REDUCTIONPhysician-led smoking cessation counseling, aided by referral resources like the national Quitline, meaningfully boosts quit rates but remains underutilized in orthopaedic care.
Abstract, as published

➤: Physicians who advise patients to quit smoking substantially improve cessation rates, but cessation counseling is currently underperformed.

➤: Counseling, pharmacotherapy, and additional interventions can improve the chance of successful smoking cessation. Most patients require multiple attempts at quitting to be successful.

➤: A list of referral contacts and resources should be developed and routinely offered to these patients. The national Quitline (1-800-QUIT-NOW) provides free access to trained counselors and "quit coaches" for each state program in the United States.

➤: Government and private insurance plans in the United States are required (in most cases) to cover the cost of 2 quitting attempts per year including counseling referrals and medications.

➤: Several biopsychosocial factors that affect orthopaedic outcomes (weight, anxiety, depression, etc.) are also relevant to smoking cessation; management of these factors is thus potentially aggregately advantageous.

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