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This nationwide study followed five large smoking cessation clinical trials in the US that enrolled smokers at hospitalization. At 6-month follow-up, 822 participants (out of 4,206 who completed the follow-up survey) reported they had not smoked in the past 7 days and provided a usable saliva sample for verification by testing for a chemical called 'cotinine'. The liver converts nicotine in the body to cotinine and so this chemical is a very accurate measure of whether someone has smoked in the past few days. More than 40% of those 822 self-reported quitters failed the saliva test. The misreporting rate may be even higher because, despite the offer of $50 to $100 for providing a sample 18.6% of people who had said they had quit smoking did not reply, even after multiple attempts. These participants were excluded from the study. The study also excluded anyone who said they were using another nicotine product such as smokeless tobacco, nicotine patches or e-cigarettes. Eve...

The study appears in  JAMA Psychiatry . The Vermont Center on Behavior and Health (VCBH) at UVM focuses on the relationship between behavior and health, particularly in disadvantaged populations, a group that is "overrepresented" among smokers, according to the study's authors. In their latest study, the research team, led by Stephen Higgins, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and VCBH director, examined the addiction potential of cigarettes with reduced nicotine content in three vulnerable populations of smokers -- individuals with psychiatric disorders (i.e., affective disorders, opioid-use disorder), and socioeconomically disadvantaged women. "Evidence in relatively healthy and socially stable smokers indicates that reducing the nicotine content of cigarettes reduces their addictiveness," says Higgins. "Whether that same effect would be seen in populations highly vulnerable to tobacco addiction was unknown." The multi-site, double-blind study i...

A stroke caused by a bleed into the brain ( haemorrhagic ) rather than a clot (ischaemic) is the most common type associated with taking this drug, with men twice as likely to succumb as women, the findings show. Given the often disabling or fatal consequences of a stroke, and the increasing use of methamphetamine among young people, particularly in countries around the Pacific rim (North America, East and Southeast Asia, and Oceania), the findings are a cause for concern, warn the researchers. They base their findings on a comprehensive trawl of research looking at a potential link between methamphetamine use and associated stroke risk in young people (under the age of 45), and published up to February 2017. They found 77 relevant pieces of research out of 370, including epidemiological studies and case report series. Some 81 haemorrhagic and 17 ischaemic strokes were reported. Both types were around twice as common in men as they were in women. In the case reports/series,...