Impact and Effectiveness of a Stand-Alone NRT Starter Kit in a Statewide Tobacco Cessation Program.

PURPOSE: To examine 2-week nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) starter kit quit outcomes and predictors and the impact of adding this new service on treatment reach.

DESIGN: Observational study of a 1-year cohort of QUITPLAN Services enrollees using registration and utilization data and follow-up outcome survey data of a subset of enrollees who received NRT starter kits.

SETTING: ClearWay Minnesota's QUITPLAN Services provides a quit line that is available to uninsured and underinsured Minnesotans and NRT starter kits (a free 2-week supply of patches, gum, or lozenges) that are available to all Minnesota tobacco users.

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 15 536 adult QUITPLAN Services enrollees and 818 seven-month follow-up survey NRT starter kit respondents.

MEASURES: Treatment reach for all services and tobacco quit outcomes and predictors for starter kit recipients.

ANALYSIS: Descriptive analyses, χ2 analyses, and logistic regression.

RESULTS: Treatment reach increased 3-fold after adding the 2-week NRT starter kit service option to QUITPLAN Services compared to the prior year (1.86% vs 0.59%). Among all participants enrolling in QUITPLAN services during a 1-year period, 83.8% (13 026/15 536) registered for a starter kit. Among starter kit respondents, 25.6% reported being quit for 30 days at the 7-month follow-up. After controlling for other factors, using all NRT and selecting more cessation services predicted quitting.

CONCLUSION: An NRT starter kit brought more tobacco users to QUITPLAN services, demonstrating interest in cessation services separate from phone counseling. The starter kit produced high quit rates, comparable to the quit line in the same time period. Cessation service providers may want to consider introducing starter kits to reach more tobacco users and ultimately improve population health.