UW-CTRI Researchers Present Posters at Research Day, Win Awards
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Six researchers from UW-CTRI presented their work last month at the 2019 UW Department of Medicine Research Day at the Health Sciences Learning Center in Madison, and two of them won awards for it.
Dr. Nayoung Kim and Dr. Tanya Schlam each won an award for their individual posters.
Above, from left: UW-CTRI Researcher Dr. Nayoung Kim received an award for her poster at the UW Department of Medicine Research Day. The award was presented by Vice Chair for Research Dr. Nasia Safdar and UW Hospitalist Dr. Farah Kaiksow. Kim’s poster, “Predictors of Adherence to Nicotine Replacement Therapy: Machine Learning Evidence that Perceived Need Predicts Medication Use,” offered several findings. First, nicotine dependence, environmental challenges, and motivation intensity at baseline are important predictors of daily patch and mean lozenge adherence. Second, smokers high in nicotine dependence, quitting motivation, quitting confidence, awareness and reactivity are more adherent to medication, perhaps as a way to mitigate smoking risks. Third, negative medication beliefs and sleep disturbance are associated with lower medication adherence. Important predictors of medication adherence vary by time, medication, and treatment condition. UW-CTRI Associate Director of Research Dr. Danielle McCarthy was a co-author of the poster.Schlam won an award from the UW Department of Medicine for her poster, “Which Comes First in a Quit Attempt? Temporal Relations Between Smoking and Non-Adherence to Nicotine Replacement Therapy.” Overall, those who attempt to quit smoking but lapse both decrease their nicotine gum use prior to lapsing and further decrease their gum use after lapsing. Declines in gum use may signal heightened lapse risk that is manifest in one to three days and underscore the importance of using this medication as directed. Her co-authors included UW-CTRI Researchers Dr. Tim Baker, Dr. Stevens Smith, Dr. Danielle McCarthy, Dr. Jessica Cook, Todd Hayes-Birchler, Dr. Michael Fiore and senior author Dr. Megan Piper as well as collaborator Dr. Daniel Bolt.
Here is a list of the other posters:
Dr. Jess Cook PhD presented “Withdrawal Symptoms During 48-hour Nicotine Deprivation in Smokers with PTSD, Depression, and Non-diagnosed Controls.” Cook found that those with PTSD and with major depressive disorder did not report a pre-to post-quit increase in symptoms that is characteristic of the tobacco-withdrawal syndrome. Instead, these groups reported high, sustained symptoms across the pre-to post-quit period. These findings differ from smoking motivational models that suggest that stopping smoking greatly increases withdrawal-related affective distress in smokers with mental health disorders.Mark Zehner presented his poster, “Connection to a Tobacco Quit Line from Primary Care Clinics: Electronic Health Records (EHR)-Based vs. Fax-Based Referral.” The study found that eReferral greatly increased connection rates of smokers to the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line versus the previous standard of care, fax-based referrals. Promisingly, the EHR and workflow adaption reached more high-risk smokers.Dr. Megan Piper presented her poster, “Changes in Use Patterns Among Smokers and Dual Users.” In this community sample, dual use of vaping devices and combustible cigarettes was unstable—only half of dual users continued using both products for a year. This is consistent with national data. Slightly more dual users quit smoking than smokers, but small sample size, attrition, and lack of random assignment compromised strong conclusions. Sustained vaping was related to being Caucasian and baseline vape dependence, but not with cigarette dependence.Dr. Adrienne Johnson presented her poster, “Examining the Role of Cigarette Smoking and Cessation on Combined Risk of Incident Dementia, Nursing Home Placement, and Death in Cognitively Healthy and Mild Cognitively Impaired Adults.” She and her colleagues found that cognitively healthy current smokers had increased rates of dementia, nursing home care, and death than never smokers. After 10 years of quitting, former smokers had the same rates of those negative outcomes as never smokers. This exemplifies the negative impact of smoking on dementia and highlights the benefit of quitting on these risks.
