Recent Studies

UW-CTRI has recently completed 6 studies, with data under analysis for dissemination.

1. Smoking Treatment for Oncology Patients (STOP Cancer). UW-CTRI reached out directly to UW Carbone Cancer Center patients who smoked to let them know about their tobacco treatment options. Patients were invited to join a research study comparing two active treatments to see which helped more people with cancer to quit smoking. The short-term goals of the STOP Cancer Study were to identify specific smoking treatment needs of patients living with cancer, and then to adapt smoking cessation treatment outreach and counseling to address those needs. People who consented to enter the STOP Cancer Study were randomized to a standard care condition offering three counseling calls and two weeks of nicotine patch, or to an enhanced condition offering seven counseling calls tailored to cancer challenges with 12 weeks of varenicline, a non-nicotine pill to see which active treatment helped more people quit smoking. Patients not interested in the study got standard treatment from the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line or mobile health tools from SmokeFree.gov. The long-term objective of this work was to identify promising strategies to evaluate in larger-scale trials and then disseminate to cancer programs. This was part of the larger UW-CTRI effort to improve cessation treatment effectiveness and delivery for patients living with cancer. August 2023-July 2024, $50,000. Funded by the UW Carbone Cancer Center Head & Neck Cancer SPORE (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence) via the National Cancer Institute, NIH. Dr. Danielle McCarthy, PI.
2. Predicting Patient Outcomes in Wisconsin and Nationwide Using the University of Wisconsin’s COVID-19 EHR Cohort Database. The major goal of this study was to utilize the COVID EHR Cohort at the University of Wisconsin (CEC-UW) database to improve the health and well-being of the people of Wisconsin. This was accomplished by examining predictors of patient outcomes at the UW Health site specifically to those at other participating health systems. February 2022-January 2024, $300,000. Funded by Wisconsin Partnership Program. Thomas Piasecki and Michael Fiore , PIs.
3. Treating Nicotine Addiction in Caregivers of Children at American Family Children’s Hospital. The study team made nicotine-replacement medications and coaching available to parents who smoked during their children’s hospital stay. The very acute goal was to keep parents at the bedside to support their children, limit or eliminate leaving bedside to smoke outside, and thereby reduce third-hand smoke exposure for child inpatients and their care team. To date, there was limited evidence on how to effectively intervene with caregivers who smoke during a child’s hospitalization. The study team offered this support to parents at American Family Children’s Hospital, treating up to 50 adults while supplies lasted. Following consent, participants completed a pre-intervention survey on a study tablet using well-established, validated smoking-assessment questions. Participants received $20 for completing the initial survey. They got another $20 for completing a second survey at discharge. The study team followed up with parents via phone two weeks later to encourage a smoke-free policy in their cars and homes, to offer support for quitting smoking, and to answer final survey questions for an additional $20. October 2023-September 2024, $15,871. Funded by the University of Wisconsin Department of Pediatrics Faculty R&D Grant. Dr. Brian Williams, PI.
4. VA Merit Grant. US Department of Veterans Affairs awarded a grant to UW-CTRI Researcher Dr. Jessica Cook and the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital (VA) in Madison for the first ever to evaluate a chronic care system designed to help Veterans who are both ready and not ready to quit smoking. Many Veterans became addicted to tobacco during their military service. The team implemented the grant at the VA, offered telemedicine visits for all Veterans who smoked, including rural Veterans who couldn’t afford to drive into Madison for visits. It was a way to give back to Veterans who have sacrificed so much for their country. The Enhanced Chronic Care system provided ongoing motivational interventions and interpersonal support to Veterans who used tobacco but were not ready to quit. Researchers encouraged Veterans to use evidence-based tobacco treatment and to ultimately quit smoking. Cook worked with UW-CTRI colleagues Elana Brubaker and Kirsten Webster to recruit 250 Veterans who smoke to receive the Enhanced Chronic Care intervention, and another 250 to receive the Standard Care (brief advice to quit once per year). The researchers identified an effective smoking treatment strategy for VA clinical practice. January 2019-December 2023, $1 million. Funded by the VA. Dr. Jess Cook, PI.
5. Reducing Racial Disparities in Smoking: The Milwaukee Collaboration. UW-CTRI partnered with community leaders in Wisconsin on a project to reduce smoking among African Americans in Milwaukee. Wisconsin has the worst disparity of smoking between whites (12%) and Blacks (30%) of any state in America. Milwaukee County is home to more than 240,000 people who identify as African American, representing 69 percent of Black people in Wisconsin, making it the ideal location to start this focused work. Importantly, a Community Advisory Board (CAB) comprised of African American residents from Milwaukee and other leaders will guide the proposed research. UW-CTRI collaborated with the Wisconsin African American Tobacco Prevention Network (WAATPN), the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation on this project. Lorraine Lathen, long-time collaborator with UW-CTRI and Director of WAATPN, co-chaired the CAB and led its development. The research team from UW-CTRI and the CAB worked together, using the scientific literature and the feedback from focus groups, to identify cessation interventions that have explicitly been shown to be effective for African American adults who smoke and outreach strategies to promote engagement in smoking interventions. The CAB selected outreach strategies based on their likelihood of maximizing population reach and engagement in a suite of cessation interventions. The team received a pilot award known as a UW Stakeholder and Patient Engagement Research (SPER) grant. May 2023-May 2024, $100,000. Funded by the University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (UW ICTR) and the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP). Dr. Megan Piper, PI.
6. Improving Quitline Support Study (IQS). This project evaluated promising strategies to enhance quit-smoking success among low-income people who smoke. Researchers enrolled approximately 1,400 Medicaid-eligible or uninsured people who continued smoking four months after engaging in standard services from the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line. They were invited to participate in an experiment to evaluate the value of augmenting standard Quit Line treatment with more intensive counseling, more intensive nicotine replacement, NCI’s SmokefreeTXT text support program, and/or financial incentives for using Quit Line and SmokefreeTXT support. Analyses will examine the main and interactive effects of these four treatment components at 26 weeks, as well as other quit-smoking outcomes in this at-risk population. August 2017-July 2023, $3 million. Funded by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Drs. Danielle McCarthy and Michael Fiore, PIs.
7. Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) Developmental Grant. This project aimed to develop a tailored intervention for African Americans age 50 and older to motivate them to quit smoking. African Americans are disproportionately more likely than white adults to develop dementia and suffer health effects of smoking. For this project, UW-CTRI Researcher Dr. Adrienne Johnson collaborated with Lorraine Lathen, Director of the Wisconsin African American Tobacco Prevention Network. April 2021-March 2023, $150,000. Funded by the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center with funds from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health. Adrienne Johnson, PI.