The impact of depressive symptoms on alcohol and cigarette consumption following treatment for alcohol and nicotine dependence.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide), published as a randomized controlled trial.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of depressive symptoms on abstinence from tobacco and alcohol after treatment for alcohol dependence and nicotine dependence.

Longitudinal regression models were used to examine the relationships between depression and subsequent abstinence from alcohol and tobacco after baseline characteristics, including alcohol and smoking histories, were considered.

Why It Was Studied

Although depression is common among alcohol and tobacco dependent patients, its impact on treatment outcomes is not well established.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 462 adults were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

The Timing of Alcohol and Smoking Cessation Study (TASC) randomized adults receiving intensive alcohol dependence treatment, who were also smokers, to concurrent or delayed smoking cessation treatment.

The sample consisted of 462 adults who completed depression and substance use (alcohol and smoking) assessments at treatment entry and 6, 12, and 18 months posttreatment.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized.

Because people in this Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

What Was Measured

Although depression is common among alcohol and tobacco dependent patients, its impact on treatment outcomes is not well established.

The subject headings attached to it are Alcohol Drinking, Alcoholism, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Longitudinal Studies, Smoking and Tobacco Use Disorder.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) in 462 adults.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

Its findings take up roughly 5 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2008 (Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research), a journal based in England.

More context: the Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) compound page, all human trials.