LaRowe LR, et al. – The proposition that pain–related anxiety speculated early lapse and relapse to cigarette smoking, was contemplated during this trial. It was disclosed that pain–related anxiety served as a prominent predictor of early lapse when the sample was limited to smokers with past 4–week pain. Hence, empirical support was yielded to the opinion that pain–related anxiety could lend a hand to the maintenance of tobacco dependence among smokers who experienced different levels of pain intensity.

Methods

• Data was extracted in the context of a primary study examining the role of emotional vulnerabilities in smoking cessation.
• The enrollees constituted 55 daily cigarette smokers who strived to quit without psychosocial or pharmacological cessation aids.
• Pain-related anxiety was assessed at baseline using the Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale-20 (PASS-20).
• Early lapse and relapse were determined through timeline follow-back procedures.

Results

• Cox regression analyses indicated that pain-related anxiety was a notable predictor of both early smoking lapse and relapse such that for every 1-point increase on the PASS-20, the risk of early lapse increased by 3.7% and the risk of early relapse increased by 3.6%.
• These effects were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by tobacco dependence, past 4-week pain severity, anxiety sensitivity, and the presence of current Axis I psychopathology.
• Kaplan-Meier survival analyses disclosed that among early lapsers, greater pain-related anxiety speculated a more rapid trajectory to lapse.
• Moreover, pain-related anxiety served as a predominant predictor of early lapse when the sample was limited to smokers with past 4-week pain.