The Imperative to Treat Tobacco Use Disorder

The Imperative to Treat Tobacco Use Disorder

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco use disorder remains the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States, killing close to 500,000 Americans each year. While significant public health efforts have resulted in fewer people smoking and less tobacco consumed, in 2021 an estimated 11.5% of U.S. adults still smoked cigarettes. Tobacco use disorder and related complications historically have disproportionally affected people with serious mental illness. For too long, mental health clinicians have believed they need to choose between treating serious mental illness and treating tobacco use disorder. It is a false choice: clinicians have a responsibility to treat both.

This month’s Editor’s Choice Collection reflects on the treatment of tobacco use disorder for people with mental illness, with a special emphasis on addressing barriers to accessing this life-saving care. Such barriers are discussed in detail in articles listed in the first section, and articles in the second section highlight the roles of peers and community health workers. The third section outlines key clinical interventions. As this collection illustrates, psychiatric providers should be leaders at the forefront of managing tobacco use disorder.

Emily Kager, M.D., Joseph Kim, M.D., and Peter Spyrou, M.D., Lisa B. Dixon, M.D., M.P.H.

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York (Kager, Kim, Spyrou). Dr. Dixon is the editor of Psychiatric Services.