Money can Control Smoking Cessation

Most smokers quit when they are paid for this, said anti-smoking researchers. They found that smokers who were promised money to quit had significantly higher abstinence rates six months after their original quit dates than those who received information on cessation programs only. Although abstinence rates declined in both groups by one year after their quit dates, the percentage of smokers who quit remained significantly higher in the incentive group, reported researchers.

It is possible that larger or smaller, payments by employers could be more cost-effective in improving smoking-cessation rates. Previous study showed that financial incentives were effective in promoting short-term weight loss. But whether a similar strategy would be effective for helping people quit smoking remained unclear, because studies examining the issue were limited by small examples, short follow-up, and insufficient rewards, the researchers said.

So they recruited 878 employees of a single U.S.-based multinational company who smoked to take part in a smoking-cessation study. All received information about local services to help them quit and about standard health benefits provided by the company. About half (442 participants) also received money rewards for reaching certain goals: $100 for end of a cessation program, another $250 for confirmed abstinence six months after their quit date, and $400 more for confirmed abstinence a year after their quit date.

Abstinence was ratified by measuring the levels of cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, in either saliva or urine samples. In addition to being significantly more likely to be abstinent at six and 12 months after their quit dates, smokers who received cash rewards were also more likely to enroll in a cessation smoking program, to complete a cessation program, and to have confirmed abstinence at six months after randomization. Among participants in both groups who completed a cessation program, those who received cash rewards were more likely to quit smoking.

The relationships of the size and structure of incentive payments to rates of smoking cessation remain important experimental questions yet that need to be addressed in future research.