PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Lung cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women in the U.S. In addition to
primary prevention (tobacco control), secondary prevention through early detection with low-dose CT scans is
recognized as a technique to identify earlier stage, more treatable lung cancers in high-risk patients. Evidence
from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) showed that lung cancer screening with low-dose CT scans for
high risk individuals (>30 pack years of smoking, <15 yr quit-time, and 55-74 yrs of age) conferred a 20%
reduction in mortality for those patients who received 3 annual low dose CT scans. The U.S. Preventive
Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently issued a final recommendation for annual screening for lung cancer in
these high risk individuals, and many insurers now cover the screening. The present study is thus timely and
novel – we will investigate whether we can achieve higher rates of short- and long-term cessation in this high
risk population. We will conduct a 2 x 2 (gain-framed intervention vs. unframed intervention, starter package of
2 weeks of nicotine patches and lozenges vs. no medication) study to evaluation methods to boost rates of
smoking cessation for a high-risk group of smokers (N=616) with varying levels of motivation across 2 study
sites (MUSC, Yale). Participants will be identified through the MUSC and Yale lung cancer screening programs
at both sites. Randomization will be stratified by study site and level of motivation. The primary hypothesis is
that rates of smoking cessation will be significantly higher at 6-months after lung screening for the smoking
cessation strategy involving a gain-framed intervention + 2 weeks of nicotine patches and lozenges compared
to a strategy of an unframed behavioral intervention + no medication. Our secondary hypothesis is that rates of
smoking cessation will be higher for the gain-framed intervention group vs. the unframed intervention group
and the starter package of 2 weeks of nicotine patches and lozenges group vs. the no medication group. On an
exploratory basis we will also examine mediators and moderators of treatment. We hypothesize that changes
in self-efficacy, smoking cessation outcome expectancy, familiarization with NRT, motivation, and autonomy
will act as mechanisms for the smoking cessation effects (i.e., will act as mediators of treatment). We also
hypothesize that lung screening findings (e.g., presence of a nodule, cancer, etc), nicotine dependence, and
health disparities will modify treatment response (i.e., will act as baseline moderators of treatment). This
project is designed to be translational (in that it can be transferable from our controlled efficacy study to other
lung screening programs at other institutions) as all of our media will be digital files ready for sharing, the
procedures for NRT sampling will be easily copied, and the print materials can be provided as fillable templates
for personalization.
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