Brain reactivity to smoking cues prior to smoking cessation predicts ability to maintain tobacco abstinence.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Developing the means to identify smokers at high risk for relapse could advance relapse prevention therapy. We hypothesized that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reactivity to smoking-related cues, measured before a quit attempt, could identify smokers with heightened relapse vulnerability.

Methods

Before quitting smoking, 21 nicotine-dependent women underwent fMRI during which smoking-related and neutral images were shown. These smokers also were tested for possible attentional biases to smoking-related words using a computerized emotional Stroop (ES) task previously found to predict relapse. Smokers then made a quit attempt and were grouped based on outcomes (abstinence vs. slip: smoking > or = 1 cigarette after attaining abstinence). Prequit fMRI an

SUBMITTER: Janes AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2954596 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature