Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found on Mar. 17 that an automated tobacco treatment system integrated into routine pediatric care led to a 3.9% absolute increase in smoking cessation among mothers. The study, published in Pediatrics, suggests this approach could help tens of thousands of parents quit each year and protect many children from secondhand smoke exposure.
Secondhand smoke affects more than 40% of children in the United States, raising their risk for respiratory infections, asthma flare-ups, and premature death. Helping parents quit not only benefits their own health but also reduces the chances that their children will become smokers later in life.
The research team implemented the Clinical Effort Against Secondhand Smoke Exposure (CEASE) intervention by providing access to cessation resources during pediatric primary care visits. Many parents who smoke may not have their own primary care physician but do bring their children for regular checkups, making these visits an opportunity for intervention.
"We've created a system that removes the traditional barriers, such as provider time, prescribing challenges, and workflow burden," said lead study author Brian Jenssen, MD, MSHP. "By automating the screening, motivation, and connection to evidence-based treatment, we're reaching parents at scale during a moment when they're already focused on their child's health."
The study analyzed data from over 55,000 parents across 12 pediatric practices between June 2021 and August 2024. Six practices used the automated electronic health record-linked parent tobacco treatment system while six others only conducted screenings without follow-up. The results showed higher cessation rates among mothers who received prompts and connections to treatments; no difference was observed among fathers.
Co-senior study author Alexander Fiks said: "Millions of parents who smoke attend pediatric visits annually, so even a small but noticeable decrease in smoking cessation can translate to tens of thousands of additional individuals who quit each year, which protects hundreds of thousands of children from secondhand smoke exposure." The researchers noted that the system required no extra training for staff and fit within existing workflows.
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grant R01-CA245145.
