ADHD smokers have harder time quitting

NEW YORK, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Tobacco use is more prevalent and smoking cessation less likely among persons with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, U.S. researchers said.

The study, published online in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, found smokers with ADHD symptoms, those who exhibited elevated hyperactivity and impulsivity, with or without inattention, showed lower quit rates after eight weeks than those with inattention symptoms alone or those without the ADHD.

"Greater understanding of the divergent associations that exist between the different kinds of ADHD have important public health consequences for smoking cessation and decreased tobacco-related mortality in this population," lead author Lirio Covey of Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute said in a statement.

"The effect of ADHD by itself on smoking cessation has rarely been examined; the effects of the individual ADHD symptoms on smoking cessation, even less so."

During the initial, eight-week phase of a maintenance treatment study, 583 adult smokers, 43 of whom were identified with clinically significant ADHD were treated with buproprion, or Zyban, the nicotine patch and regular cessation counseling. Compared to smokers without ADHD smokers of both ADHD subtypes combined showed lower abstinence rates throughout the study.