MADISON, Wis., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Cigarette smokers who have a history of anxiety disorders have a harder time than others quitting smoking, U.S. researchers suggest.
Lead author Megan Piper of the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention says the study offered free coaching and medications to smokers in Madison and Milwaukee. The study found the overall quit rates were high, but smokers with anxiety diagnoses were much less likely than others to quit smoking.
Out of the 1,504 study participants, 455 reported a panic attack in the past, 199 reported social anxiety disorder and 99 reported generalized anxiety disorder -- some reported having more than one diagnoses.
Smokers who said they had anxiety disorders also reported higher levels of nicotine dependence and withdrawal symptoms prior to quitting, Piper says.
In addition, study participants who had panic attacks or social-anxiety disorder experienced more negative feelings on the day they quit than did smokers without no anxiety disorder history.
The study is published in the journal Addiction.
