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Tobacco Dependence Measures and Smoking Abstinence at 6- and 12-Month Follow-Ups After a Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention

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Abstract

Assessment of tobacco dependence is especially relevant in clinical settings, but different measures are used. The present study examines the predictive value of five tobacco dependence measures on abstinence at 6- and 12-month follow-ups in a sample of treatment-seeking smokers who had received a cognitive-behavioral intervention to quit smoking. A sample of 1108 treatment-seeking smokers was used. We assessed tobacco dependence with the Fagerstrom Test for Cigarette Dependence (FTCD), and the Nicotine Dependence Syndrome Scale short version (NDSS-S), as well as three measures derived from the FTCD: Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI), the non-HSI items from the FTCD (non-HSI), Time to First Cigarette (TTFC). Regression models and the area under the receiver (AUC) operating characteristic curves were used to predict abstinence at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Results showed that the FTCD, HSI, and TTFC were significant predictors of abstinence at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. AUC values were low for all measures, being highest for the HSI at both time points (0.63 and 0.62), followed by the FTCD (0.61 at both time points) and the TTFC (0.60 at both time points). Findings indicated that greater tobacco dependence is a significant predictor of a lower likelihood of long-term abstinence. Moreover, short tobacco dependence measures such as the HSI and the TTFC significantly predicted 6- and 12-month abstinence, similarly to the FTCD. Therefore, using a pragmatic criterion according to time availability would be useful when choosing the measures in clinical settings.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all participants for contributing to this work.

Funding

This research was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Project PSI2015-66755-R), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain (Project PID2019-109400RB-100; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033.A) and co-financed by FEDER (European Regional Development Fund).

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All authors were substantially involved in the conception of the study and participated in its design. CMV, ALD, DCS, MBH, and EB collected the data. CMV conducted the statistical analysis. CMV drafted the first version of the manuscript with the assistance of ALD, DCS, MBH, and EB contributed significantly to the writing and editing the manuscript contributed to the review and editing of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Carmela Martínez-Vispo.

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The the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain and FEDER had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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All procedures were approved by the Bioethics Committee of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC 2016/17.6; USC-26/2020) and are in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Martínez-Vispo, C., López-Durán, A., Suárez-Castro, D. et al. Tobacco Dependence Measures and Smoking Abstinence at 6- and 12-Month Follow-Ups After a Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 46, 1–11 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-023-10096-y

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