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Role of nicotine dependence in smoking relapse: Results from a prospective study using population-based recruitment methodology

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Abstract

Results of a prospective examination of factors influencing smoking relapse are reported for a sample of smokers (N=522) obtained through population-based recruitment. All subjects were given a modified Fagersirom Tolerance Questionnaire (modified FTQ), which is a 5-item self-report instrument characterizing smokers according to their degree of nicotine dependence. At 30 days postcessation. those placing in the lowest quartile of the modified FTQ at baseline had the highest survival rate (79%) and those placing in the highest quartile at baseline had the lowest survival (non-relapse) rate (43%). The difference in survival among the groups was statistically significant (p > .001). At 12 months, those placing in the lowest quarrtile of baseline cigarette consumption had the highest survival rate (34%) and those placing in the highest quartile had the lowest survival rate (14%; p > .001), It seems increasingly clear that level of dependence, even as indexed by comparatively crude self-report measures such as amount smoked is associated with the rate and pattern of smoking relapse.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention and the Division of General Internal Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 1000 Welch Road, 94304, Palo Alto, Stanford, CA, USA

    Joel D. Killen & Stephen P. Fortmann

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  1. Joel D. Killen
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  2. Stephen P. Fortmann
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Additional information

This article was supported by Public Health Service Grant 5 R01 HL 39770 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

We thank Barbara Newman, Laurie Davis, and Ronald Fields for their invaluable help in conducting this study and Ann Varady for her data management and statistical work. We thank Tom Robinson for his helpful comments on the article.

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Killen, J.D., Fortmann, S.P. Role of nicotine dependence in smoking relapse: Results from a prospective study using population-based recruitment methodology. Int. J. Behav. Med. 1, 320–334 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0104_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0104_3

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