A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE COSTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF A TOBACCO-CESSATION PROGRAM FOR ACTIVE-DUTY SERVICE MEMBERS

Health system records of 126 active-duty (AD) service members who were participants in the Davis-Monthan AFB ''Quitters are Winners'' tobacc o cessation program (QAWP) between June 1993 and May 1994 were reviewe d retrospectively during the fall of 1994, Participants received an av erage of 2.84 (+/- 1.46) prescriptions for transdermal nicotine replac ement therapy representing 6 weeks duration, Tobacco abstinence, deter mined by 6-month point prevalence abstinence (PPA), was 19.05 and 15.0 8% for 6-month continuous abstinence (CA). PPA and CA rates were signi ficantly higher than expected (z = 3.94, p < 0.002; z = 2.38, p < 0.02 ), Average operational cost per successful outcome at 6 months after e ntry into the QAWP were $778.93 using PPA and $983.92 using CA, Additi onal analyses revealed corresponding increases between average cost pe r successful outcome and duration of TNRT, This research provides an i nitial analysis of the efficiency of the QAWP for AD participants and a model for subsequent evaluations within military medical treatment f acilities.