The article includes 335 people who reported smoking status both at the start of treatment and at one-year follow-up.
This is a follow-up study with interviews at the start of treatment and 12 months later to examine how many had stopped smoking during the follow-up year.
The majority of people entering substance abuse treatment smoke tobacco: 94% in OMT and 93% among patients in inpatient treatment. At one year's follow-up, 87% of the OMT patients and 69% of the inpatients reported still smoking cigarettes.
Among those who stopped smoking, the majority had either started or continued using snus (smokeless tobacco). Younger age and receiving inpatient treatment (compared to OMT) were factors associated with smoking cessation.
Patients in substance abuse treatment and especially OMT patients are exposed to a lot of tobacco smoke, a factor known to be associated with a number of negative health outcomes.
Active measures to promote health that are aimed at smoking cessation should be implemented as part of substance abuse treatment in OMT as well as in-patient treatment in Norway.