Heavy drinkers who smoke have a tougher time quitting cigarettes than those who drink moderately or not at all, according to a recent study.

However, researchers from Yale Cancer Center and Yale School of Medicine found that modifying tobacco-oriented telephone counseling to help hazardous drinkers can help them quit smoking.

A growing body of research shows that hazardous-drinking smokers are at even greater risk for numerous health problems, including several types of cancer, than smokers who drink less. In the study, hazardous drinking was defined as a weekly consumption of at least 14 drinks for men and seven drinks for women at least once in the past year.

"This was the first quitline study to offer alcohol intervention counseling to hazardous drinking smokers, and we found that the quitline coaches can be trained to counsel that group effectively to improve smoking cessation and limit alcohol use," Benjamin A. Toll, the study's principal investigator, said in a statement. "If quitlines across the country use this method, we could reach millions of people seeking help."

Given that 20 percent of all tobacco quitline callers drink at hazardous levels, the researchers saw an opportunity to explore how telephone counselors could help that subgroup.

Researchers found that hazardous drinking smokers who received alcohol counseling and a brochure about reducing drinking were significantly more likely to quit smoking than hazardous drinking smokers who received only tobacco counseling and a brochure about tobacco.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.