Trial reportPloS one2024
Does smoking cessation reduce other substance use, psychiatric symptoms, and pain symptoms? Results from an emulated hypothetical randomized trial of US veterans.
Trial report in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Simultaneous versus Sequential Cessation of Tobacco and Cannabis: Preferences of Young Adults Who Co-Use in France.Drug and alcohol review · 2026Article
- Health Benefits of Screening for Co-occurring Alcohol-, Substance-, and Mood-related Conditions for At-Risk Populations: A Mathematical Modeling Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Factors associated with enrollment, adherence, and retention in a remotely delivered tobacco cessation randomized controlled trial.Tobacco prevention & cessation · 2026Article
- Puff and psychosis: a retrospective cohort analysis of psychiatric hospitalisations in patients with schizophrenia and nicotine use.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Predictors of Enrollment and Adherence in a Randomized Tobacco Cessation Clinical Trial.Tobacco use insights · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundQuitting smoking may lead to improvement in substance use, psychiatric symptoms, and pain, especially among high-risk populations who are more likely to experience comorbid conditions. However, causal inferences regarding smoking cessation and its subsequent benefits have been limited.
methodsWe emulated a hypothetical open-label randomized control trial of smoking cessation using longitudinal observational data of HIV-positive and HIV-negative US veterans from 2003-2015 in the Veterans Aging Cohort Study. We followed individuals from the first time they self-reported current cigarette smoking (baseline). We categorized participants as quitters or non-quitters at the first follow-up visit (approximately 1 year after baseline). Using inverse probability weighting to adjust for confounding and selection bias, we estimated odds ratios for improvement of co-occurring conditions (unhealthy alcohol use, cannabis use, illicit opioid use, cocaine use, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and pain symptoms) at second follow-up (approximately 2 years after baseline) for those who quit smoking compared to those who did not, among individuals who had the condition at baseline.
resultsOf 4,165 eligible individuals (i.e., current smokers at baseline), 419 reported no current smoking and 2,330 reported current smoking at the first follow-up. Adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for associations between quitting smoking and improvement of each condition at second follow-up were: 2.10 (1.01, 4.35) for unhealthy alcohol use, 1.75 (1.00, 3.06) for cannabis use, 1.10 (0.58, 2.08) for illicit opioid use, and 2.25 (1.20, 4.24) for cocaine use, 0.78 (0.44, 1.38) for depressive symptoms, 0.93 (0.58, 1.49) for anxiety symptoms, and 1.31 (0.84, 2.06) for pain symptoms.
conclusionsWhile a causal interpretation of our findings may not be warranted, we found evidence for decreased substance use among veterans who quit cigarette smoking but none for the resolution of psychiatric conditions or pain symptoms. Findings suggest the need for additional resources combined with smoking cessation to reduce psychiatric and pain symptoms for high-risk populations.
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