The awards will fund research for treatment and prevention of many types of cancer.
People with mental illness are 70% more likely to smoke cigarettes than people without mental illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet smoking cessation programs seldom are offered to mentally ill people as part of their overall treatment plan.
To bridge this gap in caring for a particularly vulnerable population, MD Anderson has joined with Rice University, the University of Houston and Austin Travis County Integral Care — Travis County’s provider of psychiatric and behavioral health services — to eliminate smoking in state-funded community mental health clinics throughout Texas.
This anti-tobacco initiative, known as the Taking Texas Tobacco Free project, is training clinic administrators to implement tobacco-free policies on their campuses and to deliver tobacco cessation interventions to their patients and staff. The initiative is greatly needed, says its director, Cho Lam, Ph.D., assistant professor of Health Disparities Research at MD Anderson and senior faculty fellow in Rice University’s psychology department.
“Adults with mental illness smoke about a third of all the cigarettes in the United States,” Lam says. “They’re at greater risk of dying from smoke-related illnesses than from their mental health conditions.”
The American Psychological Association lists a number of possible reasons why smoking is prevalent in people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and other mental illnesses. One of the most probable is that nicotine can improve attention and concentration — appealing benefits for some mental health patients. However, nicotine’s benefits only last about five minutes at a time, leading the person with mental illness to smoke even more.
When patients with mental illness decide to quit smoking, their psychiatrists or mental health professionals must be made aware of their plans to quit, says Lorraine Reitzel, Ph.D., associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Houston and co-director of Taking Texas Tobacco Free.
“Smoking can lessen the levels of psychiatric medications in the bloodstream,” says Reitzel. “But when a patient quits smoking, the medication levels in the patient’s blood can rise and may even become toxic. Medication levels must be closely monitored and adjusted during the process of quitting smoking.”
In the past year, Taking Texas Tobacco Free has been introduced in 117 clinics. The future plan is to introduce the program in an additional 138 clinics.
Funded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, it’s modeled after Austin Travis County Integral Care’s Tobacco-Free Workplace Program.
More Stories From Conquest
Hwu named head of cancer medicine
Patrick Hwu, M.D., joined MD Anderson in 2003 as the first chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology.
DePinho elected to top cancer research academy
The American Association for Cancer Research Academy recognizes those who’ve made significant contributions to cancer research.
Continuing education
Addison Marshall, 22, is on the fast track to success. He’s a student at Texas A&M University carrying a full course load while studying to become a physician assistant. He works at a physical therapy clinic in College Station and teaches a 6 a.m. fitness and conditioning class at a local gym.
The warrior pose
The Little Yogis Program at the Children’s Cancer Hospital provides young patients tools to cope with the pain, anxiety and fear they may face as they undergo treatment.
Living a long life starts early
MD Anderson will lend its cancer prevention expertise to the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) program, which is used in schools and after-school programs across the nation. Initial efforts will focus on preventing skin cancer and tobacco use.
The unstoppable Meisha Brown
While being treated at MD Anderson as a child, Meisha Brown was inspired to pursue a career in medical research. Today, she’s a cancer advocate and pursuing her Ph.D.
Colorectal cancer doesn’t care how old you are
According to researchers at MD Anderson, in the next 15 years, more than one in 10 colon cancers and nearly one in four rectal cancers will be diagnosed in patients younger than the traditional screening age.
Getting the drop on lung cancer
When caught early, lung cancer can be cured; however, it almost always goes undetected till it’s too late. Researchers are working on a blood test that will reveal the disease in the early stages.
MD Anderson puts the lab in collaborations
In the modern world of biomedical research, collaboration between academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies is becoming more and more prevalent, necessary and productive.
Suite Relief
Many patients who travel to MD Anderson from outside the Houston area for treatment face the difficult task of finding an affordable place to stay. Several nonprofit groups have been established to help.
Cooperating with Cooper to make great care even better
Eighteen years after completing his surgical oncology fellowship at MD Anderson, Francis Spitz, M.D., is back with the institution — but not in Houston.