Potential predictors of smoking relapse in treatment-seeking smokers

Abstract

Impulsive behavior problems are powerful predictors of addiction treatment outcomes. However, a comprehensive assessment of these features has not been examined in relation to smoking cessation outcomes. This study aims to evaluate the capacity of impulsive behavior to predict the risk of relapse and the number of relapses for smokers. The sample comprised 141 participants (Mage= 47.3, SD= 8.31; 59% females) in psychopharmacology treatment for dependence to nicotine. Participants provided breath carbon monoxide samples for determining smoking throughout the study. The different impulsiveness dimensions were evaluated with a Go/NoGo task, the visual search and attention test and a delayed discount task, while self-informed impulsivity was assessed with Barratt’s Impulsiveness Scale. Unplanned impulsivity, attention failures and performance in the Go/NoGo task are postulated among the individual factors related to the number of relapses. Our results contribute to the understanding of relapse components and enable the inference of assiduity by quantifying relapse.