Smoking, Insurance Coverage Show Link in Those With Mental Health Disorders, SUD

Analysis demonstrates improvement among study participants that comprised a nationally representative sample of non-institutionalized respondents between aged 18 and 64 years.

The results of a recent analysis showed that improvements in smoking abstinence outcomes for adults in the United States with mental health and substance use disorders (SUD) are highly linked to increases in health insurance coverage.

The objective of the study was to estimate recent trends in cigarette use and health insurance coverage for US adults with and without mental health and SUD.

Investigators looked at an event study analysis of insurance trends and smoking among US adults with and without mental health disorders or SUD using public-use data from 2008 to 2019 from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which is an annual, cross-sectional survey.

The participants included a nationally representative sample of non-institutionalized respondents between aged 18 and 64 years.

Outcome variables were 1 measure of past-year health insurance coverage and 3 measures of recent cigarette use. The research team compared outcomes between individuals with and without mental health disorders or SUD and over time.

The results showed that when comparing pooled data between 2008 and 2009 and between 2018 and 2019, smoking rates of adults with mental health disorders and SUD decreased to 27.9% from 37.9%, while smoking rates of adults without mental health disorders or SUD decreased to 16.3% from 21.4%.

In addition, recent smoking abstinence rates for adults with mental health disorders or SUD increased to 10.9% from 7.4%, while recent smoking abstinence rates without mental health disorders or SUD increased to 12% from 9.6%.

Between 2018 and 2019, 11% of net reductions in current smoking, 12% of net reductions in daily smoking, and 12% of net increases in recent smoking abstinence coincided with greater gains in insurance coverage for adults with mental health disorders or SUD compared with those without mental health disorders or SUD.

Reference

Creedon TB, Wayne GF, Progovac AM, Levy DE, Cook BL. Trends in cigarette use and health insurance coverage among US adults with mental health and substance use disorders. Addiction. 2022. doi: 10.1111/add.16052