According to researchers from Penn State University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School, reduce nicotine in tobacco to a non-addictive level could help smokers with mood or anxiety problems quit without harming their mental health.
The findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.
They claim that reducing the amount of nicotine in cigarettes can reduce addiction, reduce exposure to toxins, and improve smokers’ chances of quitting.
In U.S.A, tobacco use continues to be the single largest preventable cause of illness and premature death. The US Food and Drug Administration and the New Zealand government recently planned to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to highly non-addictive levels.
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Previous studies suggested that Reducing nicotine levels can help smokers quitbut there is little evidence that these regulations will harm people who already have emotional disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders, which affect about 38% of smokers in the United States. Ky.
Professor of psychiatry and behavioral health Jonathan Foulds asserts that smokers with mental health problems are more likely to have severe nicotine withdrawal symptoms and are more difficult to quit successfully. He added that there is concern that reducing nicotine intake to extremely low levels could worsen the psychiatric symptoms of smokers with mental health disorders, encouraging them to smoke more and making them more likely to smoke. exposure to more toxins (dangerous substances).
The study included 188 smokers who had no intention of quitting and had a history of or are currently experiencing a mood or anxiety condition. Volunteers were randomly divided into two groups and given either standard nicotine research tobacco (11.6 mg/cigarette) or reduced nicotine cigarettes for another 18 weeks until only 0.2 mg/cigarette left.
The researchers assessed levels of cotinine, nicotine metabolites, hazardous chemical levels, tobacco dependence index, and various mental health indicators at the start and end of the trial.
At the end of the study, the researchers found no statistically significant difference in mental health parameters between the two groups. The researchers used the Kessler psychological stress scale; it consisted of six self-report items in which participants rated how much they felt “anxious,” “hopeless,” or “so distressed that nothing could cheer them up.” Scores for each of the six experiences are added together to calculate the score.
In contrast to participants in the standard nicotine group, who scored an average of 6.1 at the start of the trial and ended around 4.9, those in the reduced nicotine group scored an average. The mean was 5.3 at the start of the study and the mean ended. GPA 4.6.
“These findings are important because we wanted to understand the impact of these policies on smokers with anxiety disorders or depression,” said Foulds, a researcher with the Penn State Cancer Institute. “. “Our data showed that there were no significant differences in mental health measures between groups, suggesting that nicotine-lowering cigarettes may not have an adverse psychological impact on the group for this statue.”
Foulds and team found that groups in the lower nicotine group ingest less nicotine and ingest less dangerous carcinogens such as the biomarker 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl). )-1-butanol), also known as NNAL. This finding is consistent with previous studies. By the time the randomized phase of the trial ended, members of that group had also cut back on smoking and reported less nicotine addiction.
Unique to this study, participants in both groups were also given a “treatment choice” option after an 18-week period. They may return to their tobacco use, continue to smoke study cigarettes, or try to quit. Of the 188 study participants, those who were randomized to use reduced nicotine cigarettes were more likely to quit smoking after 12 weeks (18.1%), compared with those in the control group ( normal nicotine content) (4.3%).
“We believe this is the first randomized trial to find that smokers using low-nicotine cigarettes are significantly more likely to quit (with biochemical verification),” Foulds said. , three months after the end of the trial”.
“Our results suggest that these policies will likely reduce nicotine absorption from tobacco without worsening health,” said Dr. Eden Evins, Cox Family Psychiatry Professor at Harvard Medical School. mental health of smokers with mood or anxiety disorders”. “They also suggest that with the right support and resources, smokers with mood and anxiety disorders can successfully quit through these policies.”
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