Utilization and Satisfaction Rate of Virtual Smoking Cessation Clinics in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Smoking is a leading cause of premature morbidity and mortality; quitting smoking at any age has immediate and longer-term benefits for people’s health and life expectancy. This study assessed the utilization of virtual smoking cessation clinics (VSCCs) throughout Saudi Arabia and explored participants’ satisfaction with and acceptance of these services. Methods: This retrospective cohort study analyzed secondary data from Saudi Arabia’s national telemedicine VSCCs on the Sehhaty app, from January 2022 to December 2024. The study analyzed the data of adult smokers (as defined by the World Health Organization) using means/standard deviations (continuous data) and frequencies/percentages (categorical data, N/%). Results: The analysis of 17,300 study participants, who were predominantly male (92.3%) with a mean age of 37.7 years and resided mostly in the Central region (38.7%), showed that tobacco abuse counseling was the top recommended treatment (48.3%), with 99.1% of mental and behavioral disorders (16.8%) being attributed to tobacco use. Services were delivered in 82.9% of cases, 12.5% of service failures were due to participants’ nonattendance, and consultations averaged 17 min. The East region showed significantly higher receipt of services (OR = 3.05, 95% CI: 2.65–3.52) than the Central region. Service delivery showed a small statistically significant association with age (AOR: 1.01 per year, 95% CI: 1.00–1.02), but no significant association with marital status (AOR 1.07, 95% CI: 0.96–1.20) or gender (AOR 1.79, 95% CI: 0.82–3.87). Overall satisfaction was high (87.1%) and driven by physician interaction (87.3%), likelihood of recommending the service (87.2%), and app usability (85.4%). Regional differences significantly affected satisfaction (East highest, Central lowest), married participants had statistically significantly higher satisfaction across all domains, and gender did not generally affect satisfaction, although males were more likely to give a higher app usability rating (p = 0.039) than females. Finally, satisfaction was positively linked to age (B = 0.009, p < 0.001), while call duration was negatively associated with age (B = −0.008, p < 0.001). Conclusion: VSCCs in Saudi Arabia are increasingly utilized, primarily by adult males. While the Central region had the highest usage volume, the East region delivered superior service and satisfaction, highlighting clear regional disparities. High participants’ satisfaction was mainly driven by physician interaction and app usability, with minor increases linked to older age and shorter consultations. Marital status strongly predicted higher satisfaction (for married users), whereas gender did not, apart from males rating app usability slightly higher than females.