The Women's Initiative for Nonsmoking (WINS) XI: age-related differences in smoking cessation responses among women with cardiovascular disease

Smoking cessation has immediate health benefits; however, the efficacy of smoking cessation interventions among older adults and women has received limited research attention. The original Women's Initiative for Nonsmoking (WINS) study was a randomized controlled trial that tested the efficacy of a smoking cessation intervention for Bay Area women hospitalized with cardiovascular disease. The current study, which used the WINS dataset, compares participants 62 and older with those younger than 62 years. The sample (n=277) contained 136 older smokers and 141 younger smokers. At the 6-month follow-up, 52.1% of older smokers had quit smoking compared with 40.6% of younger smokers. At the 12-month follow-up, 52.0% of older smokers had quit smoking compared with 38.1% of younger smokers. The difference at 12 months was statistically significant, and a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis further supported these findings. Clinicians should be sure to also include older smokers in smoking assessments and smoking cessation interventions.