Smoking Addiction Rising

Smokers today are highly dependent on nicotine, a new study has shown. Experts believe the rest may have simply quit, leaving those unable to behind.

According to new research, about 75% of smokers trying to quit are highly addicted to nicotine. The study shows that figures are the highest in 15 years. Lead researcher Dr. David P. Sachs, from the Palo Alto Center for Pulmonary Disease Prevention in California, noted: "Over the last five years, patients that I am seeing require much more intensive treatment because tobacco dependence is more severe." Nicotine addiction varies from individual to individual, but the higher the dependence, the harder it is to quit. "These people will suffer severe nicotine withdrawal symptoms, and they will be more likely to relapse back to cigarette use," Sachs said. Sachs' study measured the degree of nicotine dependence in 3 groups of smokers from 1989 to 2006. Altogether, these 630 people had been enrolled in programmes designed to help them break the habit. Dependence was measured using the Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire, which rates dependence on an 11 point scale. The higher the points, the more dependent a subject was. Over the period of the study, points increased 12%. Individuals with scores of 7 to 11 increased 32%. The number of the highly dependent rose from 55.5% to 73%. Dr. Norman H. Edelman, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, provided some reasons for this trend. He postulated: "Is the reason for the increase in nicotine addiction due to the fact that cigarette companies have been increasing the nicotine content of cigarettes? Is the reason for this finding the fact that we have been successful with the less-addicted, and now have the more addicted 'hard-core' [smokers] left?" Sachs' study is expected to be presented at the American College of Chest Physicians annual meeting in Philadelphia Tuesday.