Treating Smokeless Tobacco Use in Rural Veterans
Smokeless TobaccoNicotine DependenceThis is a pilot study designed in an effort to develop and improve access to effective treatments for tobacco use in rural Veterans using a tailored intervention approach. Specifically, we will evaluate a combined behavioral and pharmacological smokeless tobacco cessation which concomitantly addresses comorbid issues commonly experienced by rural tobacco users including elevated depressive symptoms, risky alcohol use, and concerns about weight gain. The objectives are to: Evaluate the feasibility of an individually-tailored telephone intervention for rural smokeless tobacco users Examine the impact of the intervention on treatment utilization, patient satisfaction, and smokeless tobacco cessation.
The Impact of Real-time Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) Feedback on Response to Nicotine...
Nicotine DependenceThe purpose of this study is to develop a technique to provide feedback of brain activity and to use this technique to reduce levels of craving in nicotine dependent smokers. The researchers will use a brain scan called functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI uses magnets to take pictures of your brain. Functional MRI measures brain blood flow that is related to brain activity. This measure of brain activity can be presented or "feedback" to volunteers.
Assisting Smokers to Switch to a JUUL E-Cigarette by Devaluing Combustible Cigarettes
Smoking CessationHarm Reduction4 moreThis study will evaluate a reward devaluation strategy in which smokers use the JUUL e-cigarette immediately before any combustible cigarettes (CCs) are smoked. This procedure is predicted to accomplish three goals: 1) the rewarding effects of CC will be disrupted because subjects will already have attained fairly high peak nicotine concentrations immediately before smoking the cigarette. This reduces the rewarding effect of smoking, in part from receptor desensitization that occurs following nicotine exposure, which reduces the response to a subsequent dose of nicotine, and in part from satiating the drive to smoke; 2) the use of the JUUL will become associated with the same cues that elicit smoking, thereby promoting the substitution of JUUL use for CC use; and 3) ad libitum nicotine intake from the JUUL and its rewarding effects will be maximized because, unlike CC, they will be experienced after a period of nicotine deprivation. Thus, despite a lower per-puff nicotine dose relative to CC, the pharmacologic impact and reinforcing effect will be maximized. The study will evaluate two flavors (Mint and Virginia Tobacco), randomly assigned, to determine if flavor assignment (similar to the subjects' usual brand of CC or different than the subjects usual brand CC) has an effect on the success of this reconditioning procedure.
Smartphone-based Financial Incentives
Tobacco Use DisorderCigarette smoking during pregnancy increases risk for catastrophic pregnancy complications, growth retardation, other adverse fetal and infant health problems, and later-in-life chronic conditions among exposed offspring. The most effective intervention for reducing smoking during pregnancy is financial incentives whereby participants earn incentives (e.g., gift cards, cash) contingent on objective evidence of smoking abstinence. However, financial incentives-based interventions are typically delivered in relatively intense protocols requiring frequent clinic visits, which limits the geographical range over which services can be delivered and potentially denies treatment to those residing in remote or otherwise difficult to reach settings. The present study will examine the feasibility, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of a smartphone-based financial incentives intervention whereby smoking monitoring and delivery of incentives are completed remotely using a mobile app (to be designed by DynamiCare Health, Inc.). Eligible participants who complete the informed consent process will be randomized to one of two conditions: an incentives condition wherein women will receive financial incentives contingent on the remote submission of breath and saliva specimens indicating abstinence from recent smoking (described below), or a best practices control condition in which women will receive usual care for smoking cessation that is provided at their obstetrical clinics, as well as three brief educational sessions and referral to the Vermont (or other state) pregnancy-specific quit line by our research staff. For inclusion in the study, women must meet the following criteria: (a) > 18 years of age, (b) report being smokers at the time they learned of the current pregnancy, (c) report smoking in the 7 days prior to completing their phone eligibility screening, (c) < 25 weeks pregnant, (d) speak English, (e) own a smartphone (Android or iOS; 81.8% of pregnant women in wave 1 [2013-2014] of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health [PATH] reported owning a smartphone). Exclusion criteria include: (a) current or prior mental or medical condition that may interfere with study participation (assessed via self-report during phone eligibility screening), (b) smoke marijuana more than once each week and not willing to quit (marijuana smoking can inflate breath CO), (c) exposed to unavoidable occupational sources of CO (e.g., car mechanic), and (d) self-report currently being maintained on opioid maintenance therapy (e.g., methadone, buprenorphine). Participants randomized to the incentives condition will select a quit date (either the first or second Monday following their enrollment), and will submit videos of themselves blowing into a breath CO monitor twice daily during week 1. They will receive incentives for every sample where expired breath CO is < 6 ppm. Beginning in week 2 and extending through week 6, participants will submit videos twice per week (Monday/Thursday) for which they will receive incentives for providing videos of themselves completing saliva cotinine tests indicating smoking abstinence. From week 7 until delivery, participants will submit videos once per week and will continue to receive incentives for saliva cotinine tests indicating no smoking. During the postpartum period, women will submit videos twice weekly for the first 4 weeks and once weekly from weeks 5-12. Women will receiving incentives for negative breath and saliva samples, and the value of incentives will increase with each consecutive sample indicating smoking abstinence. Participants will not receive incentives for missed samples or samples that indicate smoking, and the incentive schedule will be reset at its starting value. However two consecutive negative samples following a missed or positive sample will restore the incentive to its prior value. Women in both conditions will complete seven formal assessments of their smoking status during their participation along with a treatment acceptability questionnaire and semi-structured interview on barriers and facilitators of treatment engagement. We conducted a power analysis to estimate the number of participants required to detect treatment effects assuming late-pregnancy abstinence rates of approximately 40% vs. < 10% (incentives vs. best practices, respectively), and 24-week postpartum abstinence rates of approximately 20% vs. < 5%. The proposed sample size of 76 per treatment condition will result in at least 80% power to detect a difference between the two treatment conditions in abstinence rates of 40% vs. 10 % at late-pregnancy or 20% vs. 5% at 24-weeks postpartum assessments using a chi-square test and significance level of 0.05.
Targeted Pharmacological and Behavioral Treatments for Smoking in Schizophrenia Study 1
Tobacco DependenceSchizophrenia is associated with high rates of cigarette smoking and associated morbidity and mortality. In this study, smokers with schizophrenia will complete a baseline session and then randomized to varenicline (VAR) or placebo (PLA). After 1 week on medication, participants will complete a cigarette rating task session. Participants will then undergo a 72-hr abstinence period in which they will come to the laboratory twice per day and receive high-value cash reinforcement contingent upon meeting a strict breath CO abstinence criterion. At each visit, they will rate withdrawal symptoms, mood and craving. At the end of the abstinence period, they will repeat the cigarette rating task. Participants will return to the lab to provide a CO sample 24 hours later, and will text the lab with videos of their CO samples for one week. Date and time of smoking relapse will be measured from these samples.
Preventing Tobacco Relapse With Omega-3s Trial
Tobacco DependenceAlmost 12% of women report smoking during pregnancy. Smoking during pregnancy is associated with adverse fetal outcomes and up to 35-75% of women quit smoking during their pregnancy. Clinical trials of tobacco cessation medications have reported safety concerns along with limited efficacy. Subsequently, these medications are not generally recommended in pregnancy and most women who stop smoking do so unassisted. Not surprisingly, the rates of smoking relapse in the post-partum period are up to 67%. To date, clinical trials of behavior interventions in the post-partum period have been largely null. Pharmacotherapy has not been studied as a means of preventing relapse in smokers who quit without the use of medications. Additionally, these medications are excreted in breast milk, which limits there use for lactating women. Thus alternative, safe, and effective strategies to prevent smoking relapse in high-risk, former smokers during the post-partum period are needed. n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) have anti-inflammatory properties and appear effective as adjuvant therapy for depression. In animal models, n-3 LCPUFA deficiencies can result in hypofunctioning of the dopamine mesocorticolimbic pathways which are related to reward and dependence. Nicotine results in an elevation of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens which is associated with the pleasurable sensations related to nicotine use. It has been hypothesized that correcting the hypofunctioning dopaminergic system through n-3 LCPUFA supplementation might reduce nicotine cravings. Taken together, these studies suggest that supplemental n-3 LCPUFA might be useful in preventing smoking relapse. The investigators' hypothesis is that post-partum former smokers randomized to n-3 LCPUFA supplementation will be less likely to relapse and have less nicotine cravings compared to women allocated to placebo. To test this hypothesis they will conduct a 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study of 4 grams/day n-3 LCPUFA supplementation versus placebo. Participants will be enrolled prior to hospital discharge. The primary outcomes of the trial will be time to smoking relapse and change in self-reported nicotine cravings. The secondary outcome will be point prevalence abstinence at 6- and 12-weeks. compliance will be monitored by measuring red blood cell phospholipid fatty acid content and verify smoking cessation through end-expired CO and cotinine.
Electroretinogram: a New Human Biomarker for Smoking Cessation Treatment
Smoking CessationTobacco Use9 moreThis project aims to develop electroretinogram as a new putative marker for dopamine release, and as a predictor of treatment response among patients seeking treatment for smoking cessation. Tobacco smoking continues to be a major public health challenge. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter released in the brain. Several lines of evidence suggest that dopamine release deficit in the brain is involved in the development and maintenance of nicotine dependence. The investigators hypothesize that smokers who do not have a deficit in dopamine release will more readily respond to behavioral treatment for smoking cessation, and in particular, financial incentives contingent on abstinence (Contingency Management). Previous pilot data suggest electroretinogram (ERG), which records electrical signals from the retina in response to light, is a clinically accessible correlate to dopamine release in the brain. The project proposes an ERG-based biomarker, and a pilot clinical trial to apply this biomarker to personalize smoking cessation treatment. This clinically tractable biomarker of central dopamine release may have a large number of future applications in the diagnosis and treatment of other mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The study will recruit normal controls and smokers, measure ERG before and after a standard dose of oral immediate release methylphenidate. Smokers will undergo a 12-week standardized treatment course of CM. The investigators will test whether smoking status and the response to CM are correlated to changes in ERG in response to methylphenidate challenge.
Study on Smoking Cessation and Cost Outcomes in the Duke Smoking Cessation Program
Nicotine DependenceThe purpose of this study is to conduct an observational assessment of natural outcomes within the Duke Smoking Cessation Program (DSCP), "Quit at Duke." This assessment will include information regarding abstinence rates, changes in patient emotional state following treatment, and costs of operations. Primarily, this study will assess the financial sustainability and the cost-effectiveness of the program.
E-Cigarette Inner City RCT
Tobacco DependenceCOPD Asthma2 moreTobacco is the most preventable cause of disease and death in Canada. Although the tobacco use rate has substantially gone down in the general population, significant differences exist between sub-populations in Canada, for example Ottawa's highly vulnerable homeless or at-risk for homelessness population has an almost 100% tobacco smoking rate relative to 9-18% in the rest of the Canadian general population. This stark inequity in tobacco use translates into devastating healthcare outcomes such as a disproportionate amount of cancer, stroke, heart disease and death. Canadians who are homeless or at-risk for homelessness die 25 years earlier than housed Canadians, mostly due to tobacco. In order to tackle this tobacco use related inequity - a novel approach is urgently needed. Despite commonly held dogma that People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) don't want to quit smoking, many studies have demonstrated that in fact they are very interested in quitting. Moreover, the investigators pragmatic peer-led community-based action approach used in their PROMPT project has demonstrated that tobacco dependence strategies can be implemented with great success in this population. The majority of PROMPT participants reduced or quit tobacco use, in addition to reducing or quitting all other drug use. Importantly, the investigators have demonstrated that it is possible to gain the trust and engagement of marginalized populations and that researchers can create a community space that is low-threshold, safe and non-judgmental. The investigators aim to compare two tobacco dependence management strategies in the homeless (or at-risk for homelessness) multi-drug use population in Ottawa and Toronto. They will use the same peer-led approach in PROMPT with community peer researchers with lived experience; with the hope that the cost-effective community based framework derived from this trial will serve as a template for interventions and treatments in community settings for chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.
Effects of Intensive Behavioral Training Program on Impulsivity and Inhibitory Control in Smokers...
Tobacco SmokingNicotine Dependence3 moreDependence on tobacco derived nicotine is a major public health problem. Substance users who complete training in mindfulness subjectively report increased patience and improved motor control over their impulses. Yet, no studies have tested this perceived benefit with behavioral measures of impulse control. The investigators are conducting a randomized controlled clinical trial, which compares Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness Training for tobacco smokers, using behavioral measures to investigate the effects of mindfulness training on impulsivity and inhibitory control.