Depressive, anxious, withdrawal symptoms, and craving as possible predictors of abstinence maintenance in smokers attending a 12-week quitting program

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Depressive, anxious, withdrawal symptoms, and craving might affect differently the probability to maintain abstinence after quitting smoking. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess depressive, anxious, nicotine withdrawal symptoms, and craving in a sample of smokers attending a smoking cessation program over a period of 12 weeks. METHODS: A naturalistic study was conducted in which 78 smokers were consecutively recruited for a 12 week evaluation program. Socio-demographic data and clinical information were collected, rating scales were used to assess anxious and depressive symptoms, nicotine dependence, withdrawal symptoms, and craving. RESULTS: Of the 78 recruited smokers, 17 remained abstinent and 61 reverted to smoking during the period of 12 weeks. The probability of maintaining abstinence was increased when low depressive symptoms or low craving occurred during the cessation program. CONCLUSION: The present results strengthen the importance of assessing depressive symptoms and craving over the follow-up of a physician-assisted smoking cessation program to detect abstaining smokers at risk to relapse.