Tobacco Cessation Quitline Utilization and Effectiveness among Veteran Participants: A Retrospective

Christofferson DE, Hertzberg JS, Knoeppel J, Calhoun P, Beckham JC.
Tobacco Cessation Quitline Utilization and Effectiveness among Veteran Participants: A Retrospective Evaluation
Am J Prev Med. 2026 May 31:108460. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2026.108460. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42225192.

Introduction: U.S. military veterans have historically used tobacco at higher rates than the general population. Quitlines increase abstinence from tobacco use. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) national telephone quitline, Quit VET, offers tobacco cessation counseling to veterans enrolled in VHA health care. An evaluation of Quit VET was conducted to evaluate the use and effectiveness of the Quit VET service.

Methods: A retrospective evaluation of the Quit VET telephone quitline was conducted among 7,013 veterans who were first time users and enrolled from January 1, 2019, through June 30, 2022. Evaluation was conducted 2024-2025. Of these, 4,311 (61.5%) veterans consented to longitudinal assessment for up to 1 year following completion of treatment. The primary outcome was self-reported, 30-day point prevalence abstinence at 6 months. Logistic regression was used to analyze associations between abstinence and veteran demographics, tobacco use, and treatment utilization.

Results: Veterans who used Quit VET were on average 56.4 (SD: 13.9) years old and mostly male (82.8%), White race (63.1%), and non-Hispanic ethnicity (84.6%). Cigarettes were the most common tobacco product used (77.2%) and 7.8% reported use of two or more products. Veterans completed 3.1 counseling sessions on average and 63.7% used cessation medication. After 6 months, 28.5% reported 30-day abstinence in a complete case analysis, 11.2% abstinence using an intent-to-treat analysis with a penalized imputation (i.e., missing=using tobacco). In an adjusted logistic regression model, tobacco use severity (number of cigarettes per day) was associated with decreased odds of abstinence at 3-,6-, and 12-months. Tobacco use treatment dose (number of counseling sessions completed) significantly increased likelihood of abstinence at all three endpoints. Self-reported use of tobacco cessation medication was associated with increased likelihood of self-reported abstinence at the 3- and 12-months endpoints.

Conclusions: Quit VET effectively supports abstinence in a real-world group of veterans using various tobacco products.