Intention to quit moderates the effect of bupropion on smoking urge

The behavioral mechanisms by which bupropion reduces smoking have been explored in laboratory behavioral studies, with some inconsistent results. Intention to quit smoking has been found to moderate some effects of nicotine replacement, and the degree to which that characteristic may affect responses to other smoking pharmacotherapies is unknown.

This laboratory study examined the effects of 300 mg/day bupropion, compared with placebo, on baseline and smoking cue-elicited urge to smoke and other measures in smokers who stated that they did (n = 8) or did not (n = 17) intend to quit smoking within 6 months.

Significant interactions indicated that bupropion reduced the effects of acute abstinence on smoking urges in the presence of neutral cues, only in those who intended to quit. Bupropion and intention to quit did not reduce the effects of acute abstinence on urges in the presence of smoking cues and did not reduce nicotine withdrawal symptoms or smoking behavior between sessions.

This study is one of the first placebo-controlled examinations of the effects of bupropion on cue reactivity and provides support for the idea that laboratory smoking studies may be more likely to detect effects of pharmacological treatments for smoking when they enroll smokers who intend to quit.