DISCA-Supported Research Finds Depression Predicts Failure to Quit Smoking
2004 NIDA Distinguished International Scientist Ivan Berlin, Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire Pitie-Salpetriere, France, and his DISCA partner Dr. Lirio S. Covey, New York State Psychiatric Institute, report that a Beck Depression Inventory score > or = 10, even in smokers who do not meet a current diagnosis of major depression, directly predicts inability to quit smoking.
The pair assessed 600 smokers without currently diagnosed depression who participated in a smoking cessation study at 8 centers. The researchers examined whether mood, personality, and coping predict smoking cessation and whether the associations of personality and coping are mediated through depressed mood. Writing in Addiction, 2006 Dec; 101(12):1814-21, the researchers concluded that neither personality traits nor coping skills predicted directly smoking cessation. However, they found that low levels of problem focusing and social support seeking predicted a negative outcome via depressed mood, suggesting that clinicians assess depression symptoms in routine smoking cessation care.
Preliminary Results from Brazilian ASI Study Document Drug Use Patterns
Investigators from the Center for Drug and Alcohol Research (CPAD) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, have found that 86.6% of clients at 5 Brazilian clinical centers were “very/extremely worried” about drug abuse and that 67.4% were seeking treatment services for drug abuse. CPAD investigators Dr. Felix Kessler and Dr. Flavio Pechansky gathered cross-sectional data from 729 clinical center clients utilizing the new version of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI6), which was translated into Portuguese and culturally adapted for use with Brazilian clients by a binational team that included Drs. John Cacciola, Arthur Alteman and Megan Beauchamp from the University of Pennsylvania. The prevalence rates for hepatitis exceeded 10%. Age at first consumption was 15 years for tobacco; 16 for marijuana; 18 for inhalants; 20 for cocaine and hallucinogens; 22 for stimulants; 27 for sedatives; and 34 for methadone. Duration of continuous use followed a similar pattern, with tobacco use reported for a mean of 14 continuous years of use, followed by marijuana (8 years), crack and cocaine (7 years), stimulants (3 years), sedatives (3 years), and heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants (2 years). The CPAD team was supported by the Brazilian Anti Drug Secretariat of the President’s cabinet (SENAD). CPAD has formed a consortium with researchers from the other four Brazilian sites to analyze and publish the data, continuously validate the instrument, and develop follow-up measures.
