Integrated smoking cessation and binge drinking intervention for young adults: A pilot investigation

Background: Alcohol consumption is strongly associated with cigarette smoking in young adults. Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the acceptability and estimate the magnitude of the effect of a novel-integrated smoking cessation and binge-drinking intervention for young adults compared with standard treatment control. Methods: Participants were 41 young adult smokers (≥10 cigarettes per day) who regularly (≥2 times per month) binge drank who were randomly assigned to standard treatment (n=19) involving eight individual treatment visits plus 8 weeks of nicotine patch therapy or the identical smoking cessation treatment integrated with a binge-drinking intervention (integrated intervention; n=22). Results: Participants rated integrated intervention as highly acceptable as indicated by 100% of participants rating helpfulness as 5 on 5-point scale. Using an intent-to-treat analysis for tobacco abstinence, at both week 12 end of treatment and week 24 follow-up, more participants who received integrated intervention were biochemically confirmed abstinent from tobacco than those who received standard treatment (36% vs. 21% at week 12; 23% vs. 11% at week 24). At week 24, change from baseline in binge-drinking episodes, drinks consumed, and drinking days between treatment groups were similar (intent-to-treat analysis was not used for alcohol data). Conclusions: Preliminary data support the intriguing possibility that integrated intervention may enhance smoking cessation and reduce binge drinking.