Effect of financing smoking cessation outpatient services on receiving quit advice in Taiwan

Taiwan implemented the Smoking Cessation Outpatient Services program in 2002. This study assessed the effect of financing smoking cessation services in Taiwan on prevalence of receiving quit advice from physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other health professionals in Taiwan. We analyzed pooled data from 2004-2007 Taiwan National Adult Smoking Survey to estimate prevalence of receiving quit advice across years. We also examined factors associated with receipt of advice to quit smoking. In 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, 5358(36.8%), 4846(32.9%), 5220(34.5%), and 4866(33.1%) adults reported ever smoking. Among these smokers, 21.1%, 26.8%, 28.2%, and 27.6% reported that they received quit advice during the past year in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively. The policy of increasing reimbursement rates and medication subsidies for smoking cessation between January 2005 and March 2006 was positively related to percentage of receiving quit advice. However, as the reimbursement rates and medication subsidies were brought back to the 2004 levels in April 2006, the prevalence of quit advice in 2007 went down slightly. Multivariate logistic regression analyses results indicated that increasing financing for smoking cessation services in 2005, being male, older, a daily cigarette user, having previously attempted to quit, perceiving oneself as having poor health, and being aware of the benefits of quitting were significantly positively associated with receiving quit advice.