Evaluating smoking cessation interventions in China’s primary care facility networks for hypertensive patients aged 45 years and older: A retrospective cohort study

INTRODUCTION: In China’s aging population, hypertension, aggravated by smoking, constitutes a substantial health concern. However, the effectiveness of the national public health interventions for smoking cessation under the Essential Public Health Services remains unverified. Our aim was to examine smoking prevalence, the proportion of individuals receiving smoking cessation advice, its impact on successful cessation among Chinese hypertensive patients aged ≥45 years, and to discern disparities in the coverage and efficacy of smoking cessation interventions between primary care facilities and hospitals. METHODS: Employing a longitudinal cohort approach, we examined four waves (2011–2018) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). We surveyed a nationally representative cohort of hypertensive individuals, accounting for smoking status, cessation advice, healthcare preferences, and 11 pertinent covariates. RESULTS: Among the 4269 hypertensive patients, smokers were predominantly male, aged <65 years, with lower education and lower wealth. Smoking prevalence decreased from 25.2% in 2011 to 21.1% in 2018. The incidence of physician-provided smoking cessation advice reached a peak of 60.3% in 2015, decreasing to 54.8% in 2018. Visitors to primary care facilities reported the highest rate of advice reception. While patients receiving advice exhibited a higher smoking prevalence, instrumental variable regression and subgroup analyses found no significant correlation between advice receipt and successful cessation. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a substantial smoking prevalence among older hypertensive Chinese individuals and limited effectiveness of existing cessation programs. This underscores the necessity for augmenting primary care and devising a comprehensive health policy for more successful smoking cessation interventions, particularly considering China’s rapidly aging population.