Abstract
Purpose: Reducing disease burden in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) focuses, in part, on helping patients become more functional through programs such as pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). Smoking cessation may be a prerequisite or component of PR, and determining which smoking interventions (eg, behavioral, pharmacotherapy, combination) are most effective can help guide efforts to extend them to patients with COPD. The purpose of this narrative review was to summarize evidence from studies testing smoking cessation interventions in patients with COPD and discuss how these interventions may be integrated into PR programs.
Review Methods: Searches were conducted in the PubMed and Web of Science databases. Search terms included "(smoking cessation) AND (RCT OR clinical trial OR intervention) AND (pulmonary OR chronic bronchitis OR emphysema OR COPD)." Published original studies were included if they used a prospective, experimental design, tested a smoking cessation intervention, reported smoking cessation rate, and included patients with COPD or a subgroup analysis focused on smokers with COPD.
Summary: Twenty-seven distinct studies were included in the review. Most studies tested multitreatment smoking cessation interventions involving some form of counseling in combination with pharmacotherapy and/or health education. Overall, smoking cessation interventions may help promote higher rates of smoking abstinence in patients with COPD, particularly multifaceted interventions that include intensive counseling (eg, individual, group, and telephone support), smoking cessation medication or nicotine replacement therapy, and health education.