Below are the 16 research papers UW-CTRI published from January to July 2019. For a complete list of all UW-CTRI publications since inception, click here.
Note: Names in bold are current UW-CTRI employees.
Adams D, Bolt D, Deng S, Smith S, Baker T. Using Multidimensional IRT to Evaluate How Response Styles Impact Measurement. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology. 2019.
Summary: This paper examined different ways that study participants respond to survey questions, as well as the theories behind them. One such theory is called multidimensional item response theory (MIRT). Its models provide flexibility in accommodating various response styles by participants, but often present difficulty in isolating the effects of response style(s) from the trait or construct one measures. The authors of this paper illustrate several aspects of a MIRT approach using real and simulated analyses.
Croyle RT, Morgan GD, Fiore MC. Addressing a Core Gap in Cancer Care – the NCI Moonshot Program to Help Oncology Patients Stop Smoking. New England Journal of Medicine. 2019;380(6):512-515.
Summary: Only about half of cancer patients who smoke are offered help to quit by their oncology teams. That’s a lost opportunity, wrote experts in this commentary. Research shows quitting smoking after a cancer diagnosis is associated with longer survival and a reduced risk of new cancers. A 2009 survey of 58 cancer centers in America designated by the NCI revealed that 21 percent offered no tobacco-use treatment services. This manuscript describes a new NCI initiative to improve cessation treatment delivery in 42 NCI-funded cancer centers.
Culverhouse RC, Chen L-S, Saccone NL, Ma Y, Piper ME, Baker TB, Bierut LJ. Variants in the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 Region of Chromosome 15 Predict Gastrointestinal Adverse Events in the TTURC Smoking Cessation Trial. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2019.
Summary: Variants in the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 region of chromosome 15 are associated with gastrointestinal adverse events while taking medications to quit smoking. Adherence to medication in this study was a strong predictor of successful smoking cessation. However, neither adverse events nor the genetic variants associated with them predicted either adherence or successful cessation in this study.
Engle J, Mermelstein R, Baker T, Smith S, Schlam T, Piper M, Jorenby D, Collins L, Cook J. Effects of Motivation Phase Intervention Components on Quit Attempts in Smokers Unwilling to Quit; A Factorial Experiment. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2019;197:149-157.
Summary: Nicotine gum significantly increased the likelihood of making a quit attempt by six weeks (23% vs. 15% without gum). Conversely, nicotine patch reduced quit attempts when used with Behavioral Reduction Counseling. Nicotine gum is a promising Motivation-phase intervention that may spur quit attempts amongst smokers initially unwilling to quit.
Fiore MC, Adsit R, Zehner M, McCarthy DE, Lundsten S, Hartlaub P, Mahr T, Gorrilla A, Skora A, Baker TB. An EHR-based Interoperable eReferral System to Enhance Quitline Smoking Treatment in Primary Care. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 2019.
Summary: Twenty-three primary care clinics from two healthcare systems in Wisconsin were randomized to one of two referral methods to connect patients who smoke with tobacco quitlines: either paper-based fax-to-quit or electronic referral via medical records, aka eReferral. Electronic health record-based eReferral provided an effective, closed-loop, interoperable means of referring patients who smoke to telephone quitline services, producing referral rates 3-4 times higher than the current standard of care (fax referral), including especially high rates of referral of underserved individuals.
Garey L, Manning K, McCarthy DE, Gallagher MW, Shepherd JM, Orr MF, Schmidt NB, Rodic B, Zvolensky MJ. Understanding Quit Patterns from a Randomized Clinical Trial: Latent Classes, Predictors, and Long-Term Abstinence. Addictive Behaviors. 2019.
Summary: Results suggest that there are four relevant classes of quit behavior, each with specific predictor variables, including: age, motivation to quit, smoking urges, and number of quit attempts. These classes relate to long-term abstinence. These results have the potential to inform manualized smoking cessation treatment interventions based on relevant subgroups of quit behavior.
Johnson AL, McLeish AC, Shear PK, Sheth A, Privitera M. The Role of Cigarette Smoking In Epilepsy Severity and Epilepsy-Related Quality of Life. Epilepsy and Behavior. 2019;93:38-42.
Summary: Smokers with epilepsy, compared with nonsmokers with epilepsy, were at an increased risk to have experienced seizures in the past year after controlling for the effect of Medicaid status. Smoking with epilepsy was also associated with lower quality of life; however, this finding did not remain significant when Medicaid status was taken into consideration. Contrary to the hypotheses, smokers with epilepsy were not at an increased risk of having refractory epilepsy compared with nonsmokers with epilepsy. Nevertheless, patients with epilepsy should be advised of the dangers of smoking specific to epilepsy.
Kaye JT, Fronk GE, Zgierska AE, Cruz MR, Rabago D, Curtin JJ. Acute Prazosin Administration Does Not Reduce Stressor Reactivity In Healthy Adults. Psychopharmacology.
Summary: Prazosin is a medication primarily used to treat high blood pressure, symptoms of an enlarged prostate, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A single acute dose (2 mg) of prazosin did not reduce stress reactivity in a healthy adult sample. Neither startle potentiation nor self-reported anxiety was reduced by prazosin (vs. placebo) during unpredictable (vs. predictable) stressors.
Matheny JD, Stevens EM, Chen S, Christiansen BA, Kowitt SD, Osman A, Vidrine D. The RICO Verdict and Corrective Statements as Catalysts for Public Policy. Tobacco Regulatory Science. 2019;5(3):206-228. 2019.
Summary: A federal court ruled tobacco companies violated racketeering laws and ordered them to publish corrective statements. This study assessed effects of exposure to the statements. People who saw the statements were less likely to think lawmakers should trust tobacco companies as much as other companies or that lawmakers should trust tobacco company lobbyists to provide accurate information, compared to the unexposed group. The exposed group also was more likely to support requiring graphic warning labels and point-of-sale quitline signs.
McCarthy DE, Adsit R, Zehner M, Skora A, Kim N, Baker TB, Fiore MC. Closed-Loop Electronic Referral to SmokeFreeTXT For Smoking Cessation Support; A Demonstration Project in Outpatient Care. Translational Behavioral Medicine. 2019 Jun 7.
Summary: Electronic referral (eReferral) to SmokefreeTXT for adult patients who smoke was implemented in two clinics in a health system. Interoperable, HIPAA-compliant eReferral returned referral outcomes to the EHR. During clinician implementation, 43 of 299 adult smokers (14.4%) were eReferred. During medical assistant (MA) implementation, 36 of 401 adult smokers (9.0%) were eReferred. Overall, among those eReferred, 25.7% completed SmokefreeTXT enrollment (3.1% of patients eligible for eReferral). Staff survey responses indicated that eReferral was efficient and easy. eReferral rates varied meaningfully by clinic.
Mundt MP, Baker TB, Fraser DL, Smith SS, Piper ME, Fiore MC. Paying Low-Income Smokers to Quit? The Cost-Effectiveness of Incentivizing Tobacco Quit Line Engagement for Medicaid Recipients Who Smoke. Value in Health. 2019;22(2):177-184. 2019.
Summary: The incentive treatment produced higher six-month CO-confirmed seven-day point-prevalence abstinence than did the control treatment (21.6 vs. 13.8%). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of the financial-incentive intervention was $2316 per additional person who quit. The study ICER compares favorably with other smoking treatments, such as varenicline combined with proactive telephone counseling, whose ICER has been estimated at $2600 per additional smoker who quits. Use of financial incentives to engage with tobacco quitline treatment is a cost-effective option for low-income smokers.
Mundt MP, Baker TB, Piper ME, Smith SS, Fraser DL, Fiore MC. Financial Incentives to Medicaid Smokers for Engaging Tobacco Quit Line Treatment: Maximizing Return on Investment. Tobacco Control. 2019 May 30.
Summary: This study offered financial incentives for smokers engage with the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line to quit smoking. The minimal cost per additional smoker who quit was $2125 when incentives for the first four calls to the Quit Line were set at $20 and the financial payment for the fifth call was set at $70. Modelling suggests that financial incentives at these levels maximize return on investment to engage low-income smokers with evidence-based smoking cessation treatment.
Piper ME, Baker TB, Benowitz NL, Jorenby DE. Changes in Use Patterns OVER ONE YEAR Among Smokers and Dual Users of Combustible and Electronic Cigarettes. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2019.
Summary: In this community sample, the majority of dual users transitioned to exclusive smoking. After a year, a higher percentage of dual users (8.0%) quit smoking than smokers (1.9%), but attrition and baseline differences between the groups compromise strong conclusions. Sustained e-cigarette use was related to baseline e-cigarette dependence. This research suggests that dual use of combustible and electronic cigarettes is not a sustained pattern for the majority of dual users, but it is more likely to be a continued pattern if the user is more dependent on e-cigarettes.
Piper ME, Baker TB, Benowitz NL, Jorenby DE. E-cigarette Dependence Measures in Dual Users; Reliability and Relations with Dependence Criteria and E-cigarette Cessation. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2019.
Summary: This research provides empirical support for three e-cigarette dependence measures: the e-cigarette Fagerström Test of Cigarette Dependence (e-FTCD), the Penn State Electronic Cigarette Dependence Index (PS-ECDI, and the e-cigarette Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives (e-WISDM) among dual users of e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes. The PS-ECDI and e-WISDM are more reliable, but all three measures were strongly correlated with key dependence constructs such as heavy use and continued use over time.
Schlam TR, Baker TB, Smith SS, Cook JW, Piper ME. Anxiety Sensitivity and Distress Tolerance in Smokers: Relations with Tobacco Dependence, Withdrawal, and Quitting Success. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2019.
Summary: Those with a high ability to tolerate distress may be more likely to quit smoking and remain smoke-free a year later. Anxiety sensitivity (the fear of feelings associated with anxiety) was found to be unrelated to abstinence from cigarettes. However, the study found that a greater ability to tolerate distress was associated with higher quit rates and early abstinence, regardless of nicotine dependence or withdrawal symptoms that participants experienced.
Wattiaux A, Bettendorf M, Block L, Gilmore-Bykovskyi A, Ramley E, Piper ME, Rosenthal A, Sadusky J, Cox E, Chewning B, Bartels CM. Patient Perspective on Smoking Cessation and Interventions in Rheumatology Clinics. Arthritis Care & Research. 2019.
Summary: Participant-reported barriers included viewing smoking as “a crutch” amid rheumatic disease, rarely receiving cessation counseling in rheumatology, and very limited awareness that smoking can worsen rheumatic diseases or reduce efficacy of some rheumatology medications. Participants endorsed the cessation protocol with rheumatology-specific education and accessible resources like the quitline. Beyond quitting, participants valued knowing why and how to quit. Emphasizing rheumatologic health benefits and cessation resources are essential when designing and evaluating rheumatology smoking cessation interventions.