Correlates of nicotine patch adherence in daily life

Background: African Americans who smoke are disproportionately affected by the health consequences of smoking. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is effective for helping people successfully quit, yet there are well-documented issues with nicotine patch adherence. This study aimed to examine the real-time associations of risk factors for patch non-adherence [lapse, motivation, self-efficacy, urge, cigarette availability] with patch adherence in a sample of African Americans who smoke and are attempting to quit.

Methods: Participants were 239 African American adults, 50 % female, and ages 18-74. Ecological momentary assessment was used to assess patch use and risk factors. Multilevel modeling for binary outcomes was used to test concurrent and lagged associations between risk factors and patch use.

Results: Lapse at a previous assessment (OR=0.61, 95 % CI: 0.42, 0.88), and urge (OR=0.77, 95 % CI: 0.66, 0.89) and cigarette availability (OR=0.84, 95 % CI: 0.71, 0.99) at concurrent assessments were associated with lower likelihood of patch use. Concurrent motivation (OR=1.28, 95 % CI: 1.05, 1.55) and self-efficacy (OR=1.31, 95 % CI: 1.06, 1.62) were associated with greater likelihood of patch use. There were no significant lagged associations between motivation, self-efficacy, urge, or cigarette availability with patch use.

Discussion: It is critical to examine correlates of non-adherence among African Americans who smoke because they are less likely to quit and are disproportionately impacted by the health consequences of tobacco use. The results suggest that interventions might focus on promoting patch adherence at certain times (e.g., when cigarettes are available) and/or leveraging the benefits of protective factors (e.g., motivation and self-efficacy).