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Sex differences in tobacco withdrawal and responses to smoking reduced-nicotine cigarettes in young smokers

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Abstract

Rationale

Policies that establish a standard for reduced nicotine content in cigarettes can decrease the prevalence of smoking in the USA. Cigarettes with nicotine yields as low as 0.05 mg produce substantial occupancy of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (26%), but women and men respond differently to these cigarettes.

Objective

This study aimed to measure responses to smoking cigarettes that varied widely in nicotine yields, investigating whether sex differences in the effects on craving, withdrawal, and affect would be observed at even lower nicotine yields than previously studied, and in young smokers.

Methods

Overnight abstinent young smokers (23 men, 23 women, mean age 22.18) provided self-reports of craving, withdrawal, and affect before and after smoking cigarettes with yields of 0.027, 0.110, 0.231, or 0.763 mg nicotine, and evaluated characteristics of each cigarette.

Results

Compared to abstinent young men, abstinent young women reported greater negative affect, psychological withdrawal, and sedation, all of which were relieved equally by all cigarettes. Men but not women reported greater craving reduction, perceived nicotine content, and cigarette liking with increasing nicotine dose.

Conclusions

Men may experience less smoking-related relief of craving, and enjoy cigarettes less, if nicotine yields are reduced to very low levels. Conversely, women respond equally well to cigarettes with nicotine yields as low as 0.027 mg as to cigarettes with nicotine yields 28-fold higher (0.763 mg). These differences are relevant for policy regarding reduced nicotine in cigarettes and may influence the efficacy and acceptability of reduced-nicotine cigarettes as smoking cessation aids.

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Funding

This research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse R01 DA036487 (EDL), the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center/UCLA National Center of Excellent in Women’s Health Pilot Research Project UL1TR000124 (EDL and NP), endowments from the Thomas P and Katherine K Pike Chair in Addiction Studies (EDL) and the Marjorie M Greene Trust, and the Canada Research Chairs Program (Dr. Tyndale, the Canada Research Chair in Pharmacogenomics).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute, University of California Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90025, USA

    Paul Faulkner, Nicole Petersen, Dara G. Ghahremani, Gerhard S. Hellemann & Edythe D. London

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA

    Chelsea M. Cox

  3. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 1 King’s College Circle, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Rachel F. Tyndale

  4. Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 33 Russell Street, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Rachel F. Tyndale

  5. Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, University of California Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, USA

    Edythe D. London

  6. The Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, USA

    Edythe D. London

Authors
  1. Paul Faulkner
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  2. Nicole Petersen
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  3. Dara G. Ghahremani
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  4. Chelsea M. Cox
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  5. Rachel F. Tyndale
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  6. Gerhard S. Hellemann
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  7. Edythe D. London
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edythe D. London.

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Conflict of interest

RF Tyndale has consulted for Apotex on issues unrelated to smoking.

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Faulkner, P., Petersen, N., Ghahremani, D.G. et al. Sex differences in tobacco withdrawal and responses to smoking reduced-nicotine cigarettes in young smokers. Psychopharmacology 235, 193–202 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4755-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4755-x

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