Brain Activity After Smokers Quit Predicts Chances of Relapsing

Quitting smoking sets off a series of changes in the brain that researchers say may better identify smokers who will start smoking again. Reporting in a new study recently published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, researchers found that smokers who relapsed within seven days from their target quit date had specific disruptions in the brain’s working memory system during abstinence that separated them from the group who successfully quit. Such neural activity could help distinguish successful quitters from those who fail at an earlier stage and serve as a potentially therapeutic target for novel treatments. In the study, researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the effects of brief abstinence from smoking on working memory and its associated neural activation in 80 smokers seeking treatment. Participants were between 18 and 65 and reported smoking more than 10 cigarettes a day for more than six months. Two fMRI sessions occurred: one immediately after a person smoked and one 24 hours after abstinence began. Following smoking cessation counseling, participants set a future target quit date, and seven days after the target quit date, participants completed a monitoring visit. Sixty one smokers relapsed, and 19 quit successfully for this period, the researchers reported. “This is the first time abstinence-induced changes in the working memory have been shown to accurately predict relapse in smokers,” said the senior author. To learn more about the study, click here.