Subjective and cardiovascular responses to nicotine combined with caffeine during rest and casual activity

Abstract

Although nicotine and caffeine have separately been shown to acutely increase subjective arousal, their combined effects are unclear. Furthermore, their effects during casual physical activity, the condition under which individuals usually experience nicotine and caffeine, are unknown. Smokers who were regular coffee drinkers (n = 19, 9 males, 10 females) participated in eight morning sessions, involving nicotine/placebo, caffeine/no caffeine, and rest/physical activity (i.e. 2 x 2 x 2 within-subjects design). Nicotine (15 micrograms/kg) or placebo was given via measured-dose nasal spray intermittently after consumption of decaf coffee with or without added caffeine (5 mg/kg), followed by subjective [Profile of Mood States (POMS), Stress-Arousal Checklist, visual analog scales] and cardiovascular (heart rate, blood pressure) measures. Casual physical activity was standardized by low-intensity bicycle riding while sitting comfortably. Results indicated significant subjective and cardiovascular effects of nicotine and caffeine individually, with the combination of nicotine and caffeine generally producing additive or greater than additive effects for each measure. However, activity mediated some of the subjective effects of nicotine, as nicotine appeared to be "stimulating" during rest but not during activity. There were no differences between males and females. These findings suggest that nicotine per se and caffeine generally have additive subjective and cardiovascular effects, and that nicotine may influence subjective stimulation differentially depending on whether a smoker is resting or engaged in casual activity.

Effects of Alcohol, Coffee, and Tobacco, Alone or in Combination, on Physiological Parameters and Anxiety in a Young Population

“…24 A combination of nicotine and caffeine generally produces additive subjective and cardiovascular effects. 25,26 A significant association between nicotine and caffeine has been detected in subjective measures and BP responses. 27 The results of some research endorse giving coffee rather than pure caffeine to subjects as a more appropriate method of evaluating its effects, as this reproduces the conditions under which caffeine is normally ingested.…”

“…[37][38][39] Our results are similar to those of other studies reporting an alteration of SA 38 and studies in which neither HR nor BP was altered by doses of 75 and 150 mg of caffeine, alone 38,40 or in combination with nicotine. 40 We think that the dose administered in the present study was too low to modify the pattern of cardiovascular response or to produce the additive cardiovascular effects (when combined with nicotine) previously described by Perkins et al 25 Nevertheless, we can report that caffeine disrupts the process of adaptation to an experimental situation without disrupting cardiovascular parameters.…”

The Effect of Chronic Coffee Drinking on Blood Pressure

“…The major reasons for exclusion were as follows: (1) active treatments were applied to the coffee group but not to the control group 16,23,40 ; (2) decaffeinated coffee was compared with caffeine tablets [41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50] ; (3) insufficient data were provided to calculate the net change in blood pressure and its variance from baseline to the end of followup 12,16 ; and (4) duration of Ͻ24 hours. 19 -21,24 -29,35 …”

Effects of Cigarette Smoking and Nicotine Nasal Spray on Psychiatric Symptoms and Cognition In Schizophrenia

“…Because caffeine has been reported to interact with cigarette effects (Perkins et al 1994), subjects were abstinent from both cigarettes and caffeinated beverages in the morning for at least 4 h while they were under constant observation, before any of the tests were administered. They were not prevented from drinking coffee during their usual breakfast time, which is about 5 h prior to drug administration in the experimental session, and therefore were unlikely to be in a prolonged caffeine withdrawal state.…”

“…On the basis of some of the theoretical speculations noted above, we hypothesized that smoking cigarettes with high nicotine content would decrease negative symptoms and increase positive symptoms in schizophrenic patients. On the basis of previous studies of the effects of smoking on cardiovascular measures in normal smokers (Perkins et al 1992(Perkins et al , 1994Pomerleau and Pomerleau 1992), we anticipated that cigarettes high in nicotine content would produce a greater increase in pulse rate and blood pressure. On the basis of previous studies (Dalack et al 1999;Nilsson et al 1997;Wirshing et al 1989) which showed that smoking or nicotine can increase dyskinesia scores, we predicted that smoking cigarettes with high nicotine content or active nasal spray would increase scores on tardive dyskinesia rating scales.…”