Background Smoking cessation is a key intervention for all smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Poor treatment adherence is a challenge in clinical practice that might contribute to the lower efficacy of medication (eg, oral drug). However, it is unclear what factors will influence adherence among smokers with COPD. Methods This study was based on an open-label randomized controlled trial (RCT) of varenicline and bupropion for smoking cessation among patients with COPD in China. The medication was given for 12 weeks, and visits and assessments were conducted at weeks 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, and 24. We assessed whether the adherence to smoking cessation treatment affects the smoking cessation efficacy and evaluated predictors of adherence. Results A total of 136 participants were recruited from February 2019 to June 2020, and analyzed using the intention-to-treat (ITT) method. In this study, 48.5% (66/136) of the total participants had good adherence to smoking cessation, and good adherence significantly improved the efficacy of smoking cessation (OR=9.60, 95% CI 4.02–22.96, P < 0.001). After adjusting for age, gender, nationality, education, and marital status, we found older age, higher education level, having more previous quitting attempts, stronger self-efficacy and preparation in quitting smoking, recognizing hazards of smoking, longer duration of COPD, and higher St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) scores were relevant to good adherence (P < 0.05). Conclusion To our best knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate adherence to smoking cessation treatment among patients with COPD in China. Our study found that good adherence to smoking cessation treatment significantly improved the smoking cessation efficacy, and predictors of adherence were evaluated. We call on the medical community to pay attention to the adherence to smoking cessation among patients with COPD.

ObjectiveTo clarify the extent to which smokers in the general population experience tobacco withdrawal symptoms and whether such experience differs in those who continue to smoke and those who stopped smoking.MethodsWe included relevant questions in the nationally-representative China Health Literacy Survey (CHLS) conducted in 2018–2019. Among 87,028 participants, there were 22,115 ever-smokers aged 20–69 years who provided information on their smoking history and their experience of tobacco withdrawal symptoms. Multivariate logistic regressions were conducted to explore the association between withdrawal symptoms and other variables.ResultsAmong ever-smokers, there were 19,643 (88.8%) current smokers and 2,472 (11.2%) ex-smokers. Among current smokers, 61.3% reported having tried to quit smoking in the past. Overall, 61.1% of current smokers reported experiencing withdrawal symptoms: 69.9% of those who tried to quit smoking in the past and 47.5% of those who did not. A lower proportion of ex-smokers experienced withdrawal symptoms (46.3%) and the difference remained significant after controlling for demographic characteristics (OR = 1.76, 95% CI 1.62–1.93, P &lt; 0.001). The most commonly reported withdrawal symptoms in both current smokers and ex-smokers were craving, restlessness and anxiety. In the multivariable-adjusted analyses, those who experienced withdrawal symptoms when they tried to quit smoking (OR: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.86–2.27) were less likely to successfully quit.ConclusionsThe clinical picture of the tobacco withdrawal syndrome is the same in current smokers and in ex-smokers, but ex-smokers are less likely to have experienced it. The experience of discomfort when unable to smoke is common and seems likely to be a major factor contributing to maintaining smoking behavior not just among individuals seeking help with quitting smoking, but among smokers generally.