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Excerpts from WOMEN HAVE TOUGHER TIME KICKING CIGARETTES THAN MEN

By LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Howard News Service [12/19/99]

Women who smoke may be more psychologically than chemically addicted to cigarettes and thus have more difficulty quitting using the most common remedies and techniques, researchers report in a new study to be published Monday.

"The data suggest that the relief from withdrawal symptoms provided by cigarettes may be more profound for women who smoke than for men,'' said Thomas Eissenberg, psychologist and research at Virginia Commonwealth University's Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies in Richmond.

Eissenberg is the lead author of the study published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. The National Institute on Drug Abuse supported the study.

"These findings suggest that treatment providers need to work even harder to identify what a cigarettes provides for each individual smoker,'' Eissenberg said.

While nicotine replacement is still a good first step for anyone - via patch, gum, spray or inhaler - for some smokers, particularly women, doctors and counselors should consider that other steps besides breaking chemical dependence may be necessary and in some cases more important, the researchers suggest.