Individuals with chronic health conditions persist in smoking despite the presence of smoking-related illness. The aim of this study was to examine whether chronic health conditions moderate response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes (0.4, 2.4, 5.2, 15.8 mg/g of tobacco). This is a secondary analysis of a controlled clinical laboratory study that examined the acute effects of cigarettes varying in nicotine content among individuals especially vulnerable to smoking and tobacco dependence. Participants in the present study were categorized as having 0, 1-2, or ≥3 smoking-related chronic health conditions (i.e., chronic condition severity, CCS). Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to examine whether CCS moderated response to cigarettes across measures of addiction potential (i.e., concurrent choice testing between nicotine dose pairs, Cigarette Purchase Task (CPT) performance, positive subjective effects), tobacco withdrawal, cigarette craving, and smoking topography. No main effects of CCS or interactions of CCS and nicotine dose were observed for concurrent choice testing, positive subjective effects, tobacco withdrawal, or smoking topography. Main effects of CCS were noted on the CPT with greater CCS being associated with less persistent demand. There was an interaction of CCS and nicotine dose on Factor 1 of the Questionnaire on Smoking Urges with the effects of dose significant only among those with 1-2 chronic conditions. Overall, we see minimal evidence that chronic condition severity affects response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes. A policy that reduces the nicotine content of cigarettes to minimally addictive levels may benefit smokers already experiencing smoking-related chronic conditions.
Keywords: Abuse liability; Addiction potential; Chronic conditions; Chronic health conditions; Medical comorbidities; Reduced nicotine content cigarettes; Vulnerable populations.