TY - JOUR
T1 - A quantitative analysis of subjective, cognitive, and physiological manifestations of the acute tobacco abstinence syndrome
AU - Leventhal, Adam M.
AU - Waters, Andrew J.
AU - Moolchan, Eric T.
AU - Heishman, Stephen J.
AU - Pickworth, Wallace B.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by a Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center Grant from the National Cancer Institute and National Institute on Drug Abuse (P5084718), and by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Leventhal's effort was supported by NIH grant (DA025041).
Funding Information:
This research was supported by a Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center Grant from the National Cancer Institute and National Institute on Drug Abuse (P5084718), and by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Leventhal's effort was supported by NIH grant (DA025041). The authors report no competing interests related to the submission of this manuscript. The authors wish to thank Caryn Lerman, Brendan Bradley, Karin Mogg, Susan Boyd, Eun Lee, Nicole Eid, and Adrienne Heinz for their assistance on this study. Dr. Moolchan is now at Alkermes Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA. Dr. Pickworth is now at Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation, Baltimore, MD, USA.
PY - 2010/12
Y1 - 2010/12
N2 - Rationale: Previous studies have documented the existence of signs and symptoms of the acute tobacco abstinence syndrome; however, less attention has been paid to quantifying the magnitude of these effects. Objective: The present study quantified the relative magnitude of subjective, cognitive, and physiological manifestations of acute tobacco abstinence. Method: Smokers (N=203, ≥ 15 cig/day) attended two counterbalanced laboratory sessions, one following 12-h of abstinence and the other following ad-lib smoking. At both sessions, they completed an extensive battery of self-report measures (withdrawal, affect, hunger, craving, subjective attentional bias towards smoking cues), physiological assessments (heart rate, blood pressure, brain EEG), and cognitive performance tasks (psychomotor processing, sustained attention, objective attentional bias). Results: Abstinence effects were largest for craving, subjective attentional bias, negative affect, overall withdrawal severity, concentration difficulty, hunger, and heart rate. Effects were moderate for positive affect and EEG power. Effects were small, but reliable, for psychomotor speed, sustained attention, and somatic symptoms. Effects on performance-based indices of attentional bias towards smoking-related cues were small and reliable for some indices but not others. Effects were small and inconsistent for blood pressure and EEG frequency. Variation in internal consistency accounted for 33% of the variation in abstinence effect sizes across measures. Conclusions: There was a wide range of effect sizes both across and within domains, indicating that the acute tobacco abstinence syndrome is not a monotonic phenomenon. These findings may be indicative of the relative magnitudes of signs and symptoms that the average smoker may exhibit during acute abstinence.
AB - Rationale: Previous studies have documented the existence of signs and symptoms of the acute tobacco abstinence syndrome; however, less attention has been paid to quantifying the magnitude of these effects. Objective: The present study quantified the relative magnitude of subjective, cognitive, and physiological manifestations of acute tobacco abstinence. Method: Smokers (N=203, ≥ 15 cig/day) attended two counterbalanced laboratory sessions, one following 12-h of abstinence and the other following ad-lib smoking. At both sessions, they completed an extensive battery of self-report measures (withdrawal, affect, hunger, craving, subjective attentional bias towards smoking cues), physiological assessments (heart rate, blood pressure, brain EEG), and cognitive performance tasks (psychomotor processing, sustained attention, objective attentional bias). Results: Abstinence effects were largest for craving, subjective attentional bias, negative affect, overall withdrawal severity, concentration difficulty, hunger, and heart rate. Effects were moderate for positive affect and EEG power. Effects were small, but reliable, for psychomotor speed, sustained attention, and somatic symptoms. Effects on performance-based indices of attentional bias towards smoking-related cues were small and reliable for some indices but not others. Effects were small and inconsistent for blood pressure and EEG frequency. Variation in internal consistency accounted for 33% of the variation in abstinence effect sizes across measures. Conclusions: There was a wide range of effect sizes both across and within domains, indicating that the acute tobacco abstinence syndrome is not a monotonic phenomenon. These findings may be indicative of the relative magnitudes of signs and symptoms that the average smoker may exhibit during acute abstinence.
KW - Nicotine withdrawal
KW - Smoking
KW - Smoking deprivation
KW - Tobacco abstinence
KW - Tobacco dependence
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U2 - 10.1016/j.addbeh.2010.08.007
DO - 10.1016/j.addbeh.2010.08.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 20807673
AN - SCOPUS:77956651909
SN - 0306-4603
VL - 35
SP - 1120
EP - 1130
JO - Addictive Behaviors
JF - Addictive Behaviors
IS - 12
ER -