Investigation of Cigarette Cravings in Smokers

NCT04843969 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: 421-0318
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 76
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Interventions to disrupt memory reconsolidation have held promise for the treatment of stress- and anxiety-related disorders. In the present study, the investigators will examine whether an intervention based on these principles, called memory updating, could be adapted for reward-seeking behaviors. To test this, non-treatment seeking tobacco smokers will be exposed to smoking cues and/or stress, two stimuli known to trigger smoking. It is predicted that exposure to a stress task will enhance the cues' motivational salience and yield greater susceptibility to the memory updating procedure. As an add-on, the investigators will examine COVID-associated changes in substance use and whether participants in the memory updating groups might be more resilient to these effects. It is predicted that the changes in substance use will depend on whether the substances are used primarily in social settings.

Conditions

Cigarette Smoking; Addiction Nicotine; Tobacco Use

Keywords

Memory updating; Reconsolidation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in cigarettes smoked per day from the pre-intervention baseline to test sessions 2 and 3 given two and six weeks post-intervention

  A journal is given to participants to record their cigarette use behaviour every day for a month and a half

  At the end of test session 1 (24 hours post-intervention), participants will receive a journal to record their daily smoking behaviour. They are asked to keep this journal until test session 3 (6 weeks post-intervention).

Secondary Outcomes (9)

• Change in smoking cue-induced cigarette cravings from the pre-intervention baseline to test session 2

  Multiple times points during the baseline, intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention.

• Change in smoking cue-induced cigarette cravings from the pre-intervention baseline to test session 3

  Multiple times points during the baseline, intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention.

• Change in smoking cue-induced heart rate responses from the pre-intervention baseline to test session 2

  Multiple time points during the baseline, intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention

• Change in smoking cue-induced heart rate responses from the pre-intervention baseline to test session 3

  Multiple time points during the baseline, intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention

• Change in smoking cue-induced skin conductance responses from the pre-intervention baseline to test session 2

  Multiple time points during the baseline, intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention

Other Outcomes (2)

• Change in stress- and/or cue-induced mood during the intervention and at test sessions 1, 2 and 3

  Multiple time points during the intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention

• Change in cigarette use over the course of the procedure as a function of personality factors, childhood trauma, perceived stress, mood and/or cigarette withdrawal

  Multiple time points at baseline, during the intervention, at test sessions (24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention) and telephone follow-ups (6 months post-intervention)

Study Arms (4)

Stress task and smoking cue

EXPERIMENTAL

Exposure to a psychosocial stress task followed by smoking video cues

Behavioral: Stress induction; Behavioral: Cue induction

Stress task and neutral cue

EXPERIMENTAL

Exposure to a psychosocial stress task followed by neutral video cues

Behavioral: Stress induction; Behavioral: Neutral cue exposure

Control task and smoking cue

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Exposure to a control task followed by smoking video cues

Behavioral: Control stress exposure; Behavioral: Cue induction

Control task and neutral cue

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Exposure to a control task followed by neutral video cues

Behavioral: Control stress exposure; Behavioral: Neutral cue exposure

Interventions

Stress induction BEHAVIORAL

Exposure to a psychosocial stressor

Stress task and neutral cue; Stress task and smoking cue

Control stress exposure BEHAVIORAL

Exposure to a control task (no stress)

Control task and neutral cue; Control task and smoking cue

Cue induction BEHAVIORAL

Exposure to a smoking-related task

Control task and smoking cue; Stress task and smoking cue

Neutral cue exposure BEHAVIORAL

Exposure to neutral cues

Control task and neutral cue; Stress task and neutral cue

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Scoring 5 or higher on the Fagerström Test for Cigarette Dependence
• Willingness to abstain from smoking for 4 hours prior to each laboratory visit

You may not qualify if:

• Currently using cigarette cessation products
• Endocrinological problems
• Significant mental or physical health conditions
• Pregnancy

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Marco Leyton: lead

Study Sites (1)

McGill University

Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1A1, Canada

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Barnabe A, Gamache K, de Camargo JVP, Allen-Flanagan E, Rioux M, Pruessner J, Leyton M, Nader K. A novel stress-based intervention reduces cigarette use in non-treatment seeking smokers. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2023 Jan;48(2):308-316. doi: 10.1038/s41386-022-01455-6. Epub 2022 Sep 29.

  PMID: 36175551 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Cigarette Smoking; Tobacco Use Disorder; Tobacco Use

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Tobacco Smoking; Smoking; Behavior; Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Marco Leyton, PhD

  McGill University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 3, 2021
• First Posted: April 14, 2021
• Study Start: February 20, 2018
• Primary Completion: May 1, 2020
• Study Completion: January 31, 2022
• Last Updated: April 14, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Time Frame: From 9 to 36 months following article publication.
• Access Criteria: Investigators whose proposed use of the data has already been approved by an ethics committee.

Locations

CA (1)