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Article: Treating nondepressed smokers with alcohol dependence in sustained full remission: nicotine patch therapy tailored to baseline serum cotinine *.
- Article from:
- Journal of Studies on Alcohol
- Article date:
- July 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Alcohol Research Documentation, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH for patients previously treated for alcoholism is disease caused by tobacco (Hurt et al., 1996). Compared with nonalcoholic smokers, abstinent alcoholic smokers smoke more heavily and are more nicotine dependent as evidenced by higher serum cotinine concentrations and higher Fagerstrom scores (Hays et al., 1999; Hughes, 1993, 2000; Hurt et al., 1995). Cotinine is the major metabolite of nicotine, has a half-life of 18-20 hours and is a quantitative marker of nicotine exposure (SRNT Subcommittee on Biochemical Verification, 2002). Further, nicotine is more reinforcing among smokers with a past history of alcoholism than among those without such a ...