Medicine: Mind the Gap - Helping Smokers With Behavioral Health Comorbidity Requires a National Effort

Medicine: Mind the Gap is a lecture series that explores issues at the intersection of research, evidence, and clinical practice—areas in which conventional wisdom may be contradicted by recent evidence. From the role of advocacy organizations in medical research and policy, to off-label drug use, to the effectiveness of continuing medical education, the seminar series will aim to engage the National Institutes of Health community in thought-provoking discussions to challenge what we think we know and to think critically about our role in today’s research environment. Dr. Williams will be speaking about the fact that although public health interventions have led to lower smoking rates in the United States over the last 40 years, smokers with mental illness or an addiction other than smoking have benefited less from these efforts. At this time, little is being done nationally at the mental health or public health systems level to promote smoking cessation in this population. Moreover, she will talk about how little is known about smokers with mental illness or an addictive behavior because of the lack of critical information on their tobacco use patterns and trends, as well as on the effects of tobacco control measures such as excise taxes, advertising, or clean indoor air laws on this population. Dr. Williams will discuss how smokers with behavioral health comorbidity are not listed as a disparity group or priority population by most national public health or tobacco con...
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