CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 258Smoking Behavior and CessationSubstance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesBehavioral Health and Interventions

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation

Volpp, Kevin G., Gurmankin Levy, Andrea, Asch, David A., Berlin, Jesse A., Murphy, John J., Gomez, Angela, Sox, Harold, Zhu, Jingsan +1 more·2006·Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
DOI 10.1158/1055-9965.epi-05-0314
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Background: Although 435,000 Americans die each year of tobacco-related illness, only ∼3% of smokers quit each year. Financial incentives have been shown to be effective in modifying behavior within highly structured settings, such as drug treatment programs, but this has not been shown in treating chronic disease in less structured settings. The objective of this study was to determine whether modest financial incentives increase the rate of smoking cessation program enrollment, completion, and quit rates in a outpatient clinical setting. Methods: 179 smokers at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center who reported smoking at least 10 cigarettes per day were randomized into incentive and nonincentive groups. Both groups were offered a free five-class smoking cessation program at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The incentive group was also offered $20 for each class attended and $100 if they quit smoking 30 days post program completion. Self-reported smoking cessation was confirmed with urine cotinine tests. Results: The incentive group had higher rates of program enrollment (43.3% versus 20.2%; P < 0.001) and completion (25.8% versus 12.2%; P = 0.02). Quit rates at 75 days were 16.3% in the incentive group versus 4.6% in the control group (P = 0.01). At 6 months, quit rates in the incentive group were not significantly higher (6.5%) than in the control group (4.6%; P > 0.20). Conclusion: Modest financial incentives are associated with significantly higher rates of smoking cessation program enrollment and completion and short-term quit rates. Future studies should consider including an incentive for longer-term cessation. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(1):12–8)

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1158/1055-9965.epi-05-0314

Cites

48 of 48 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Incentives led to greater participation and completion rates, successful cessation in smoking cessation programs at 3 months, and greater weight loss ranging from 0.9 to 2.25 kg at 3 months, but these differences generally did not persist at longer follow-up (e.g., 6 months) after completion of the incentive programs.

    “Generally, incentives led to greater participation and completion rates, successful cessation in smoking cessation programs at 3 months, and greater weight loss ranging from 0.9 to 2.25 kg at 3 months. However, these differences generally did not persist at longer follow-up (eg, 6 months) after completion of the incentive programs.”

    From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [216]

  • Experiments testing financial incentives to improve health behaviors demonstrate that financial incentives can improve health behaviors in the short term, especially when financial incentives are larger.

    “These studies demonstrate that financial incentives can improve health behaviors in the short term, especially when financial incentives are larger.216–219”

    From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [216]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Volpp, K. G., Gurmankin Levy, A., Asch, D. A., Berlin, J. A., Murphy, J. J., Gomez, A., Sox, H., Zhu, J., & Lerman, C.
Affiliations
  • Institute of Health Economics (CA)
  • 9Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; and
  • 6Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics,
  • Philadelphia VA Medical Center (US)
  • 1Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion and
  • 7Annals of Internal Medicine, and
  • University of Pennsylvania (US)
ORCID
Venue
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
Publisher
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Published
2006-01-01
Volume
15
Issue
1
Pages
12-18
ISSN
  • 1055-9965 (ISSN-L)
  • 1538-7755
DOI
10.1158/1055-9965.epi-05-0314
OpenAlex
W2100968336
Cited by
257
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 20
FWCI
6.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ScholarlyCommons (University of Pennsylvania) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
  • National Cancer Institute (P50CA084718, P50-CA84718)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
Keywords
financial incentives, smoking cessation, smoking cessation interventions, program enrollment, program completion, quit rates, veterans, tobacco use, urinary cotinine
MeSH terms
Cotinine, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Health Promotion, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Motivation, Patient Compliance, Reward, Social Class, Smoking Cessation

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review