Research Project 4
Healthcare Costs and Utilization of Smoking and Quitting

The goal of this study is to assess healthcare utilization and costs caused by smoking. Researchers will compare trends for those who keep smoking versus those who quit, both short- and long-term.

This study will contribute new data on the impact of cessation on healthcare utilization and cost of smokers quitting within a large network of primary care clinics. Specifically, researchers are:

• Obtaining longitudinal data on healthcare utilization from the 1,320 smokers participating in Project 3 and from a sample of 600 continuing smokers.
• Comparing healthcare utilization and costs among continuing smokers and quitters for two years before they quit and up to three and a half years after the quit date.
• Comparing types of healthcare visits and diagnoses among quitters and continuing smokers.
• Modeling the healthcare costs and utilization of quitters against their predicted costs had they not quit.

Research Project 1: Pharmacotherapies: Efficacy, Mechanisms and Algorithms

Research Project 2: Natural History of Smoking and Quitting: Long-term Outcomes

Research Project 3: Pharmacotherapies: Effectiveness in Primary Care Systems

More Information
Understanding and Preventing Relapse, TTURC 1 (1999-2004)

Tobacco Dependence: Treatment and Outcomes, TTURC 2 (2004-2009)

• Research by the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center
• University of Wisconsin Measures and Scales
• Tobacco and Healthcare Policy Research
• Clinical Trials: New Medication
• Additional UW-CTRI Research
• Links to Other Research Web Sites