The effects of alcohol on cigarette craving in heavy smokers and tobacco chippers.

Abstract

The authors examined the effects of alcohol consumption on cigarette craving in heavy smokers and tobacco chippers (n = 138) who were instructed not to smoke for 12 hr. Participants were exposed to both smoking cues (a lit cigarette) and control cues. Half received a moderate dose of alcohol, adjusted for gender, and half received a placebo. Results indicated that alcohol consumption produced an increase in urge-to-smoke ratings before smoking cue exposure. Moreover, during cue exposure, alcohol consumption produced a sharper increase in urge ratings than did the placebo. In addition, during smoking cue exposure, alcohol increased the likelihood of displaying facial expressions associated with positive affect. These findings suggest that alcohol consumption influences both the magnitude and the emotional valence of cigarette cravings.

Effects of smoking abstinence and alcohol consumption on smoking-related outcome expectancies in heavy smokers and tobacco chippers

“…This work expands on initial expectancy findings we reported elsewhere (Sayette, Martin, Wertz, Perrott, & Peters, 2005;Sayette, Martin, Wertz, Shiffman, & Perrott, 2001). In each of these prior studies, smoking expectancy data were reported in the context of a multidimensional assessment.…”

“…Alternatively, the effects of alcohol on smokers' expectancies may be mediated by their urge to smoke, such that smoking expectancies shift as alcohol consumption increases smokers' smoking urge. Evidence indicates that alcohol consumption increases subjective smoking urge (Burton & Tiffany, 1997;King & Epstein, 2005;Sayette et al, 2005), but it is unclear whether alcohol consumption has an additive effect on expectancies that is independent of urge. A primary aim of Experiment 2 was to evaluate these alternative perspectives regarding the combined influence of smoking abstinence and alcohol consumption on smoking-related outcome expectancies.…”

“…As noted in Sayette et al (2005), participants consuming alcohol reached mean BACs of .071% (SD=.013) following smoking cue exposure, and .073% (SD=.012) after smoking. Placebo participants reported lower levels of intoxication on the post-drink SIS (M=11.0, SD=11.2) than did those drinking alcohol (M=36.4, SD=20.5), F(1, 135)= 81.3, p<.0001, and all participants reported drinking at least some vodka.…”

“…Next, participants completed the SCQ-B. Post-SCQ-B BAC and SIS levels were then assessed, followed by a behavioral choice task described by Sayette et al (2005). BAC readings indicate that SCQ-B responses were obtained while participants were on the ascending limb of the BAC curve (see BAC values in Table 1).…”

Brain Regions Affected by Impaired Control Modulate Responses to Alcohol and Smoking Cues

“…More specifi cally, several theories have been put forth attempting to explain the concurrent heavy use of cigarettes and alcohol (Durazzo et al, 2007), including conditioned cue reactivity leading to cravings for both substances (Drobes, 2002). Several studies have examined this notion by testing self-reported cravings after exposure to alcohol and smoking cues (Epstein et al, 2007;Erblich et al, 2009;King et al, 2009;Sayette et al, 2005), and it was found that moderate oral doses of alcohol increase nicotine craving in tobacco "chippers" or light smokers. To our knowledge, only one study used a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) approach to examine brain responses to an alcohol-induced smoking urge in heavy drinking nondaily smokers, where the ventral striatum demonstrated increased activation after alcohol intake (King et al, 2010).…”