Biomarker Feedback to Motivate Cessation in Pregnancy
Nicotine DependencePregnancyPhase 3 Pilot Clinical Trial.
Extended Varenicline Treatment for Smoking Among Cancer Patients
Nicotine DependenceUpwards of 33-50% of cancer patients who smoked prior to diagnosis continue to smoke following diagnosis and treatment. With medical advances in cancer care yielding a growing constituency of cancer survivors, addressing nicotine dependence in this population is a priority. While PHS guidelines recommend acute treatment durations with approved medications for tobacco use, extending the duration of treatment beyond the standard treatment duration significantly increases quit rates, reduces the risk for a relapse, and promotes recovery to abstinence following a lapse. Varenicline may be particularly effective for cancer patients given the drug's beneficial effects on affect and cognition. In this trial, 374 cancer patients will be randomized to standard varenicline treatment (12 weeks active + 12 weeks placebo) or extended varenicline treatment (24 weeks active). The investigators hypothesize that 1) Extended varenicline therapy will increase 24- and 52-week biochemically-confirmed abstinence versus standard varenicline treatment, 2) Quality of life will be rated higher in the extended therapy group versus the standard therapy group, and there will be no significant differences between groups in terms of severe side effects, and 3) Improved affect and reduced cognitive impairment will mediate the effect of extended therapy on quit rates.
Electronic Cigarettes in Daily Dependent Smokers
Substance Withdrawal SyndromeNicotine DependenceThe aim of this study is to measure nicotine cue- and withdrawal-induced craving in current smokers under four distinct conditions: after smoking a conventional cigarette, an electronic cigarette (e-Cigarette) containing nicotine, an e-Cigarette without nicotine, and after taking a nicotine lozenge. Participants will be asked to attend four morning study visits after overnight smoking abstinence. Standardized questionnaires will be used to assess changes under each condition, allowing for the investigation of the efficacy of e-Cigarettes in reducing craving by replacing the behavioral component of smoking with minimal risk of adverse effects.
Community Intervention to Reduce Tobacco Use in Pregnant Women
Nicotine DependenceIn the southwest region of Alaska where the project takes place, 79% of Alaska Native women smoke cigarettes or use smokeless tobacco (ST) during pregnancy. In addition, pregnancy appears to be a high risk period for initiation of tobacco use, primarily ST, among women reporting no use of tobacco 3 months before pregnancy. Intervention efforts targeting the entire community, not only pregnant women, to address social norms about tobacco use may be effective. Thus, the investigators will evaluate the efficacy of a novel, multi-component, theory-based intervention for reducing tobacco use during pregnancy, incorporating both individually targeted and community level components delivered by female elders "Native Sisters." The intervention builds on effective community and individual-based approaches for tobacco cessation and lay health advisor approaches for cancer prevention among Native American women. As part of the intervention, a social marketing campaign including digital stories and other small media will be developed with community feedback. Individually targeted components will be six 30-40 minute telephone or home-based peer counseling sessions with pregnant women.
Clinical Trial Tobacco Marijuana
Cannabis Use DisorderTobacco Use DisorderApproximately 50% of persons seeking treatment for cannabis-use disorders (CUDs) regularly smoke tobacco. Combining tobacco with cannabis has become a common method of smoking cannabis. Similarities of use, and using together, can make quitting difficult. Stopping tobacco simultaneously with cannabis may be beneficial. Little scientific information currently addresses how to best target tobacco smoking during treatment for CUDs. Our long-term goal is to develop an effective protocol for intervening in tobacco smoking without changing cannabis outcomes. This protocol reflects the planned Stage 1, proof-of-concept study that will compare a combined cannabis and tobacco intervention to one that targets CUD only. Hypotheses assert that the intervention (1) will be accepted by the majority of eligible participants (2) will result in more tobacco quit attempts and rates than the CUD-only treatment; and (3) will not adversely affect cannabis outcomes. Last, the project will evaluate the potential of specific moderators of outcomes to predict outcomes and inform subsequent treatment development efforts. If the hypotheses were confirmed, dissemination of this protocol would reduce adverse psychosocial and health consequences of tobacco or cannabis dependence. Findings will inform future development of prevention and intervention strategies.
Abstinence Reinforcement Therapy (ART) for Homeless Veteran Smokers
Tobacco Use DisorderHomelessnessThe goal of this research study is to examine the effects of a treatment for helping homeless veterans who smoke to stop smoking. Participants in the study will be assigned to one of two study groups. Participants in the first group will be referred to the local Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center's Smoking Cessation Clinic for treatment. Second group participants will receive a behavioral treatment designed to reward smokers for quitting and staying quit. These participants will also receive telephone counseling and medications for smoking cessation.
Tobacco Treatment for Employable Californians, Total IMPACT Study
Tobacco DependencePrevious findings indicate elevated risk for tobacco use among adults in California who are unemployed and seeking work. In a pilot study, tobacco use was associated with a longer duration of time out of work. This community-based participatory research study aims to deliver and evaluate the impact of a web-based job seeker tailored tobacco cessation intervention vs. a control group in the San Francisco Bay Area. This research investigates whether an employment-centered tobacco treatment intervention is efficacious in supporting abstinence and also associated with more timely engagement of employment.
Extinction Updating in Reconsolidation
Nicotine AddictionSmoking CessationSmoking occurs in approximately 21% of the US population, is responsible for an annual mortality rate of approximately 438,000 citizens, and has an associated healthcare economic burden of $167 billion. Although pharmacotherapies have improved cessation outcome, the vast majority of individuals making quit attempts relapse within 5-10 days of cessation. The hypotheses to be examined in this study may have potentially important implications for smoking cessation treatment and will, therefore, target the single greatest addiction-related cause of morbidity and mortality.This study will investigate a novel behavioral strategy for altering important memory processes that underlie human smoking-related nicotine addiction. This strategy used in this study employs established cue exposure procedures to putatively update smoking-related memory with information that will suppress responding to smoking cues. The goal here is to alter existing nicotine-related memory directly rather than rely exclusively on the establishment of an inhibitory extinction process, via traditional cue exposure therapy, which is known to be vulnerable to spontaneous recovery, renewal and reinstatement. Positive findings would represent a significant advance in exposure-based therapy for addiction and could lead to a treatment that uniquely targets the problem of cue-elicited craving and reactivity, thereby addressing a major obstacle to successful smoking cessation.
Effect of Galantamine on Short-term Abstinence
Tobacco Use DisorderThis is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to test whether a medication called galantamine (Brand Name: Razadyne) will help smokers quit and whether it reduces cognitive problems that smokers experience during a quit attempt.
Web Assisted Tobacco Intervention With Community Colleges
Tobacco DependenceThis trial will test the effectiveness of an enhanced web-based smoking cessation intervention for student smokers at 2-year Community Colleges. Young adults continue to be understudied, so more studies of cessation interventions are needed to generate an acceptable level of strength of evidence regarding quit rates, particularly so for Community College students for whom little data on cessation are available. Students (research subjects) will be directed to one of two intervention websites with various levels of novel interactive and social network features, including a variety of better-practice features recommended by recent literature, and technologically advanced proactive features (e-mails, SMS texting, and social networking). Our study hypothesizes that students with access to an enhanced website will have higher rates of self-reported intention to quit, a higher number of quit attempts at 6-months compared to those in in a non-enhanced website. Overall, this study will evaluate evidence for a novel enhanced cessation intervention model and will add to our understanding of successful intervention with an understudied population of primarily young adult Community College smokers. The intervention components will be replicable and, if effective, the methodology is applicable across populations, and has the potential for broad public health impact through improved delivery of effective stop smoking interventions via the internet.