Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

878 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2005-03-31

Study Completion Date

2008-04-30

Brief Summary

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The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of financial incentives for increasing long-term smoking cessation rates among employees at General Electric worksites throughout the United States.

Detailed Description

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Smoking is the leading cause of preventable mortality in United States, accounting for approximately 435,000 of the 2.4 million deaths each year in the United States. Most smokers make multiple attempts to quit smoking, but only 2-3% succeed each year. Smoking cessation programs have proven effective in helping smokers quit, but only about 5% of smokers enroll in smoking cessation programs each year.

Financial incentives have been shown to increase enrollment in smoking cessation programs and short-term quit rates, but have not been well tested as a mechanism for increasing long-term quit rates. The existing evidence suggests that they could be highly effective, particularly among heavy smokers and low income smokers. In addition, financial incentives for smoking cessation will likely be more cost effective than most covered health services and at least as cost effective as other recommended smoking cessation treatments.

This study is a two-arm randomized clinical trial of financial incentives for smoking cessation among a sample of 850 male and female smokers from GE Energy worksites throughout the U.S. Smokers will be randomized to receive either usual care (information about local community-based smoking cessation resources, coverage of prescription drugs and physician visits) or usual care plus a package of financial incentives that includes $100 for completion of a community-based tobacco cessation program, $250 for short-term smoking cessation at either 3 months or 6 months after randomization, and $400 for smoking cessation 6 months post-quit date (biochemically confirmed).

Conditions

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Tobacco Use Disorder

Keywords

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Smoking Cessation Work-site Incentives Cost Effectiveness Health Behavior Smoking

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Interventions

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Financial incentives

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Employees of General Electric at work sites in the United States
* Current smokers who report having smoked at least 5 cigarettes per day for the prior 12 months
* Age 18 or older

Exclusion Criteria

* Current use of other tobacco products, such as chewing tobacco, pipes, or cigars
* Planning to leave General Electric within the next 18 months

Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Principal Investigators

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Kevin G Volpp, MD, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Pennsylvania

Locations

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University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Theodoulou A, Fanshawe TR, Leavens E, Theodoulou E, Wu AD, Heath L, Stewart C, Nollen N, Ahluwalia JS, Butler AR, Hajizadeh A, Thomas J, Lindson N, Hartmann-Boyce J. Differences in the effectiveness of individual-level smoking cessation interventions by socioeconomic status. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2025 Jan 27;1(1):CD015120. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD015120.pub2.

Reference Type DERIVED

PMID: 39868569 (View on PubMed)

Volpp KG, Troxel AB, Pauly MV, Glick HA, Puig A, Asch DA, Galvin R, Zhu J, Wan F, DeGuzman J, Corbett E, Weiner J, Audrain-McGovern J. A randomized, controlled trial of financial incentives for smoking cessation. N Engl J Med. 2009 Feb 12;360(7):699-709. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa0806819.

Reference Type DERIVED

PMID: 19213683 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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1R01DP000100-03

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

802295

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id