Effects of alcohol cues on smoking urges and topography among alcoholic men

Although the prevalence of smoking among alcoholics ranges up to 97%, little is known about mechanisms underlying the co-occurrence of smoking and alcohol use, or the role tobacco may play in alcohol treatment recovery. Adult male alcoholics in treatment (n = 30) were randomly assigned to visual and olfactory exposure either to alcohol cues or to control cues, and then were allowed to smoke while continuing visual exposure to the same cues. Exposure to alcohol cues resulted in significantly greater self-reported urge to drink and urge to smoke but had no significant effect on the topography of smoking behavior. When variance due to urge to smoke was controlled, greater urge to drink correlated negatively with number of cigarette puffs. The results provide some support for a priming hypothesis of tobacco's role on alcoholism recovery. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.