Prospective study of factors influencing the development of craving associated with smoking cessation.
There have been few prospective studies of craving following smoking cessation. This paper presents findings from a prospective examination of factors associated with craving over an 8-week treatment period. Two findings merit attention: (1) dependence, as measured by the Dependence Index (DI), was associated with craving at 48 h, 4 and 8 weeks post-cessation. The magnitude of the association between the DI and short-term craving was, at the least, comparable to that previously reported among several biochemical measures of smoke intake; (2) a measure of craving obtained 48 h after smoking cessation was associated with treatment outcome. Forty-three per cent of participants with low initial craving scores were abstinent at a 2-month follow-up compared to only 26% of those with high craving scores. The DI was also associated with participants' status at follow-up. This result is interesting because evidence that craving or other abstinence effects are prospectively associated with outcome has been lacking.
Killen
J D
JD
Center for Research in Disease Prevention, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 94304.
Fortmann
S P
SP
Newman
B
B
Varady
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors