Smoking cessation treatment among office-based buprenorphine treatment patients

Opioid-dependent patients smoke at high rates, and office-based buprenorphine treatment provides an opportunity to offer cessation treatment. We examined tobacco use and smoking cessation treatment patterns among office-based buprenorphine treatment patients. We reviewed records of 319 patients treated with buprenorphine from 2005 to 2010. We examined smoking status, cessation medication prescriptions, and factors associated with receipt of cessation prescriptions. Mean age was 43.9 years; most were men (74.2%) and Hispanic (70.9%). At buprenorphine initiation, 21.9% had no documentation of smoking status, while 67.4% were current, 10% former, and 0.9% never smokers. Of current smokers, 16.8% received smoking cessation prescriptions. Patients retained (vs. not retained) in buprenorphine treatment were more likely to receive smoking cessation medications (26.3% vs. 11.2%, p < 0.005). We observed a high tobacco use prevalence among buprenorphine patients, and limited provision of cessation treatment. This is a missed opportunity to impact the high tobacco use burden in opioid-dependent persons.