| Nicotine Dependence Develops Rapidly in Youth | |
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According to a study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, the most susceptible youths lose autonomy over tobacco within a day or two of first inhaling from a cigarette. - Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine7/31/2007 |
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| Comprehensive Tobacco-Control Programs Reduce Smoking in New York City | |
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Two comprehensive antismoking campaigns in New York City have been successful in reducing the smoking rate - Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report7/7/2007 |
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| Nicotine Diminishes Efficacy of Doxorubicin Cancer Therapy | |
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Inhibition of apoptosis and necrosis in cancer cells by nicotine can diminish the effectiveness of doxorubicin in cancer therapy, according to an in vitro study performed at Howard University in Washington, D.C. <br><br> The anthracycline doxorubicin is used in the treatment of many types of malignancies,including breast cancer. - Journal of the National Medical Association5/14/2007 |
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| Urgency, not Depression or Anxiety, Significantly Predicts Tobacco Addiction | |
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A study by Swiss and Belgian researchers finds that urgency is a significant predictor of tobacco cravings, while depression and anxiety are not. <br><br> Impulsivity is thought by many to be at the core of tobacco addiction. The researchers analyzed which dimensions of impulsivity are related to cigarette craving, using undergraduate psychology students as subjects. They identified four distinct components associated with impulsivity: urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and sensation seeking. Urgency was found to be the most important of those when viewed as a predictor of tobacco dependence. - Addictive Behaviors5/14/2007 |
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| Prenatal and Adolescent Tobacco Exposure Associated With Gender-Specific Audio/Visual Damage | |
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Prenatal and adolescent exposure to nicotine exerts gender-specific deleterious effects on auditory and visual attention, according to a study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. <br><br> Leslie K. Jacobsen, MD, and colleagues at Yale University and other institutions examined auditory and visual selective and divided attention in 181 male and female adolescent smokers and nonsmokers with and without prenatal exposure to maternal smoking. They found that exposure to tobacco smoke during prenatal or adolescent development was associated with reductions in auditory and visual attention performance accuracy in women, especially those who had prenatal exposure. Among males, combined exposure was associated with marked deficits in auditory attention, suggesting greater vulnerability of neurocircuitry supporting auditory attention to insult stemming from developmental exposure to tobacco smoke in men than in women. - Neuropsychopharmacology5/14/2007 |
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| Smokers Exaggerate Ability of Smoking to Suppress Weight Gain | |
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Smokers have an exaggerated belief in the ability of smoking to control weight, according to research published in the journal Addictive Behaviors. <br><br> Yale researchers studied 385 individuals undergoing smoking cessation treatment. Prior to treatment, participants completed the Smoking Consequences Questionnaire-Adult (SCQ-A), the Dieting and Bingeing Severity Scale, and the Perceived Risks and Benefits Questionnaire (PBRQ). Results indicated that heightened beliefs in the effectiveness of smoking to control weight were related to eating and weight concerns; specifically, strong associations were observed between SCQ-A Weight Control scores and fear of weight gain, loss of control over eating, and body dissatisfaction. Although SCQ-A Weight Control scores were related to self-reported weight gain during a previous quit attempt, scores did not predict actual weight gain over the course of the cessation trial. Reported weight gain at previous attempts was also unrelated to actual weight gain over the current trial. These findings indicate that eating and weight-concerned smokers may benefit from psychoeducation concerning the relatively modest and temporary ability of nicotine to suppress weight. - Addictive Behaviors5/14/2007 |
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| Smoking During Pregnancy Affects Newborn`s Speech Processing Ability | |
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According to researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke in otherwise healthy babies is linked with significant changes in brain physiology associated with basic perceptual skills that could place the infant at risk for later developmental problems. Specifically, while the infants of nonsmokers discriminated among a greater number of syllables, the newborns of smokers began the discrimination process later and differentiated among fewer syllables. - Environmental Health Perspectives5/14/2007 |
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| Smokers Die Earlier from Prostate Cancer | |
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Researchers at Johns Hopkins and other institutions examined the association of cigarette smoking with subsequent fatal prostate cancer in approximately 55,000 Maryland men who were first identified in 1963. They found no association between cigarette smoking and prostate cancer incidence, but a tendency toward greater prostate cancer mortality in former and current cigarette smokers earlier in the ten-year followup period. <br><br> Current smokers of 20 or more cigarettes per day (rate ratio [RR] 2.38; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.94 to 5.99) and former smokers (RR 2.75; 95% CI, 1.13 to 6.74) had a greater risk of death from prostate cancer during the first 10 years of followup. - Urology5/14/2007 |
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| Nearly One out of Four Pregnant Women Smoke | |
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While pregnancy may be considered an effective motivator for smoking cessation, results of a new study by researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University indicate that pregnant U.S. women commonly smoke, placing themselves and their unborn children at risk for health and developmental complications. The research also finds a significant association between cigarette use, nicotine dependence, and the presence of mental disorders among pregnant women. <br><br> The data show that nearly 22% of these women smoked cigarettes and more than 10% were nicotine dependent. The results also indicate that approximately 30% of pregnant women who used cigarettes had a mental disorder, with personality disorders, major depressive disorder, and specific phobia among the most common psychological ailments. Mental disorders were even more common among pregnant women with nicotine dependence, affecting more than 57%. <br><br> The study included 1,516 pregnant women at least 18 years old who took part in the 2001–2002 National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions, a nationally representative survey of more than 43,000 U.S. adults administered by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. - Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health5/11/2007 |
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| Smoking, Heavy Drinking Associated With Chronic Kidney Disease | |
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Researchers at the University of Singapore and the University of Washington Medical School have found that smoking coupled with heavy drinking greatly increases the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). As reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, compared with that among never smokers joint exposure to both current smoking and heavy drinking was associated with almost fivefold odds of developing CKD compared with their absence (odds ratio=4.93, 95% confidence interval, 2.45 to 9.94). - American Journal of Epidemiology6/21/2006 |
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