You asked for information on smoking cessation and prevention programs at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC).

SUMMARY

The UCHC focuses on research in smoking cessation, especially among women. The center does not appear to run any programs that directly help individuals outside of research projects to stop smoking. It is working with the Public Health Department on two youth tobacco use prevention projects.

HEALTH CENTER RESEARCH AND PREVENTION PROGRAMS

Dr. Cheryl Oncken of the Hypertension and Vascular Disease Section is the Health Center's principal researcher on smoking cessation. She is currently conducting a clinical trial of a new medication being developed by Pfizer. She is also conducting several studies on the effect of quitting smoking among post-menopausal women. In one, she found 34 post-menopausal women who underwent six weeks of smoking cessation treatment experienced "clinically meaningful" reductions in blood pressure and heart rate. The results of her study were reported in the Journal of Hypertension (September 2001). In another study, she is looking at the effect of quitting on osteoporosis.

Department of Behavioral Sciences and Community Medicine staff are collaborating with the VA Connecticut Health Care System to increase understanding of alcohol and tobacco interactions that affect the treatment of people who are addicted to both substances. The subjects are 112 alcoholics (veterans at both the Newington and West Haven campuses and non-veteran women recruited from the community) who agreed to try to stop smoking. All receive alcohol treatment; half are assigned to smoking cessation therapy with nicotine replacement patches and half to therapy without patches. Researchers expect to find that (1) smoking triggers drinking in treated alcoholics and (2) more intense smoking treatment will result in better outcomes in terms of both smoking cessation and drinking.

Dr. Oncken has recently received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study smoking and pregnant women. This area of inquiry is related to a Health Center pilot project called UNICORN II, which is developing a system for women and infants at risk for poor pregnancy-related outcomes in towns currently served by the UConn Regional Network. Through a partnership of community obstetricians and UCHC specialist perinatologists, the project will provide intensive outreach and supportive social services to Medicaid recipients who are at risk for preterm birth. Smoking is one of the criteria that will trigger a referral to the project.

The UCHC's Area Health Education Center is working with the Department of Public Health to plan, promote, and evaluate two statewide tobacco use prevention projects. One, Community Partnerships for Youth Empowerment, provides mini-grants for

1. creating formal community partnerships among local organizations to promote tobacco-free lifestyles and environments within their geographic area;

2. empowering youth to design, plan, and implement campaigns and activities focused on tobacco use prevention, counter-marketing, and tobacco-free lifestyles;

3. increasing awareness among community leaders and members about the dangers of tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke; and

4. helping local activities designed to minimize youth access to and use of tobacco products and to tobacco marketing.

The other project, the Youth Tobacco Summit, aims to strengthen youth leadership and project management skills through participation in a three-day educational program.

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