Background

Among people without psychiatric disorders who smoke, very low nicotine content (VLNC) cigarette use reduces cigarette reinforcement. Whether this is true of people with serious mental illness (SMI) who smoke is unknown. Using a hypothetical purchase task, we compared the effects of 6-week use of VLNC versus normal nicotine content (NNC) cigarettes on study cigarette and usual brand (UB) cigarette reinforcement among people with SMI who smoke.

Methods

After a baseline period of UB cigarette use, participants with SMI (n = 58) were randomized to use NNC cigarettes (15.8 mg nicotine/g tobacco) or VLNC cigarettes (0.4 mg/g) for 6 weeks. At Week 6, they completed the CPT for both their assigned study cigarette and UB. The groups were compared on demand intensity (number of cigarettes purchased at no cost) and elasticity (rate of decline in demand as price increases) using extra sum-of-squares F-tests. The effects of treatment on demand indices while controlling for covariates were assessed using hierarchical regression.

Results

At Week 6, intensity of demand for study cigarettes was lower and elasticity was higher for the VLNC group relative to the NNC group (p < 0.0001). Furthermore, intensity of demand for UB cigarettes was lower for participants in the VLNC group relative to participants in the NNC group (p < 0.01). When controlling for baseline cigarettes per day, intensity remained significantly different for study cigarettes and usual brand cigarettes at Week 6.

Conclusion

A nicotine reduction policy may reduce cigarette reinforcement in this vulnerable population.

中文翻译：

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尼古丁含量极低的卷烟使用对患有严重精神疾病的吸烟者卷烟强化的影响

背景

在吸烟的没有精神疾病的人中，极低尼古丁含量 (VLNC) 卷烟的使用会降低卷烟的强化作用。吸烟的严重精神疾病 (SMI) 患者是否如此尚不清楚。使用假设的购买任务，我们比较了 6 周使用 VLNC 与正常尼古丁含量 (NNC) 卷烟对 SMI 吸烟者研究卷烟和普通品牌 (UB) 卷烟强化的影响。

方法

在使用 UB 卷烟的基线期后，患有 SMI 的参与者（n = 58）被随机分配到使用 NNC 卷烟（15.8 mg 尼古丁/g 烟草）或 VLNC 卷烟（0.4 mg/g）6 周。在第 6 周，他们完成了指定研究香烟和 UB 的 CPT。使用额外的平方和 F 检验比较各组的需求强度（免费购买的卷烟数量）和弹性（需求下降率随着价格上涨）。使用分层回归评估治疗对需求指数的影响，同时控制协变量。

结果

在第 6 周，相对于 NNC 组，VLNC 组对研究卷烟的需求强度较低，弹性较高（p < 0.0001）。此外，VLNC 组参与者对 UB 卷烟的需求强度低于 NNC 组参与者（p < 0.01）。在控制每天的基线卷烟时，研究卷烟和普通品牌卷烟的强度在第 6 周仍然存在显着差异。

结论

减少尼古丁的政策可能会减少这一弱势群体的卷烟强化。