UW-CTRI Researcher Dr. Adrienne Johnson and colleagues combed through 10,000 papers and the evidence is clear: Older people can quit smoking and are as successful as younger counterparts (or more) when they use evidence-based treatments.
Johnson said 44 studies met the criteria for their exploration into how older people quit smoking.
“The only reason we found the 44 is because we thoroughly reviewed the papers to determine if there were sub analyses of people who met our eligibility criteria,” she said. “We need more research focusing on older adults’ tobacco use and cessation efforts.”
The scoping review, published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, garnered an editor’s choice designation, meaning it will be freely available for six months to anyone.
Next steps
Johnson said the next step is to conduct research on how to best tailor interventions for people 65 and older.
“We need to focus on what works for our older adult population. My work has focused on messages to motivate this group by highlighting the link between smoking and dementia. We found some positive effects of these messages on motivation to quit. More importantly, we need to work not just on motivating quitting but also in engaging this population in quit attempts – through proactive outreach and by ensuring our older adults aren’t being overlooked in terms of their smoking.”
Cannabis plus tobacco: A growing concern
While this scoping review did not include cannabis, older adults have the fastest-growing rate of cannabis use of all age groups.
However, as the population of older Americans is set to double within the next 20 years, the stakes may be even higher for helping older people quit this co-use, Johnson said.
“We need to figure out how to best treat this population who is at grave risk for negative health outcomes from tobacco and cannabis use.”