Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation

Tobacco Use Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title:

Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00128375
• Other study ID #: 802295
• Secondary ID: 1-R01-DP-000100-
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: August 8, 2005
• Last updated: December 12, 2007
• Start date: March 2005
• Est. completion date: April 2008

Study information

• Verified date: December 2007
• Source: University of Pennsylvania
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Institutional Review Board
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of financial incentives for increasing long-term smoking cessation rates among employees at General Electric worksites throughout the United States.

Description:

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable mortality in United States, accounting for approximately 435,000 of the 2.4 million deaths each year in the United States. Most smokers make multiple attempts to quit smoking, but only 2-3% succeed each year. Smoking cessation programs have proven effective in helping smokers quit, but only about 5% of smokers enroll in smoking cessation programs each year.

Financial incentives have been shown to increase enrollment in smoking cessation programs and short-term quit rates, but have not been well tested as a mechanism for increasing long-term quit rates. The existing evidence suggests that they could be highly effective, particularly among heavy smokers and low income smokers. In addition, financial incentives for smoking cessation will likely be more cost effective than most covered health services and at least as cost effective as other recommended smoking cessation treatments.

This study is a two-arm randomized clinical trial of financial incentives for smoking cessation among a sample of 850 male and female smokers from GE Energy worksites throughout the U.S. Smokers will be randomized to receive either usual care (information about local community-based smoking cessation resources, coverage of prescription drugs and physician visits) or usual care plus a package of financial incentives that includes $100 for completion of a community-based tobacco cessation program, $250 for short-term smoking cessation at either 3 months or 6 months after randomization, and $400 for smoking cessation 6 months post-quit date (biochemically confirmed).

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 878
• Est. completion date: April 2008
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Employees of General Electric at work sites in the United States

• Current smokers who report having smoked at least 5 cigarettes per day for the prior 12 months

• Age 18 or older

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current use of other tobacco products, such as chewing tobacco, pipes, or cigars

• Planning to leave General Electric within the next 18 months

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Prevention

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Tobacco Use Disorder

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Financial incentives

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Pennsylvania	Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Biochemically verified smoking cessation rates at 6 months post-quit date
Secondary	Enrollment in and completion of community-based smoking cessation programs within the first 6 months after randomization
Secondary	Short-term quit rates at 3 months or 6 months post-quit date
Secondary	Quit rates at 12 months post-quit date