Tobacco craving in smokers with and without schizophrenia

We examined tobacco craving and dependence in current smokers (18-65 years) with schizophrenia (N=100) and those without a psychiatric disorder (normal controls, N=100). During the 2-3h visit participants completed demographic and smoking-related questionnaires and provided a breath CO sample. The Tobacco Craving Questionnaire-Short Form (TCQ-SF) was administered. Immediately after smoking one cigarette, no difference in TCQ-SF total score was noted (46.7±19.5 schizophrenia, 42.8±18.2 controls, p=0.15); however, after 15 min TCQ-SF total score was significantly higher in people with schizophrenia (50.0±19.6) than in controls (38.6±19.4) (p=0.0014). TCQ-SF factors of emotionality (p=0.0015), compulsivity (p=0.0003) and purposefulness (p=0.0174) were significantly greater in the schizophrenia group than the control group. FTND scores (5.5±2.0 vs 5.3±2.0, p=0.62) number of cigarettes smoked daily (17.9±11.6 vs. 17.0±7.9), expired breath CO (28.0±14.5 ppm vs. 22.0±8.0 ppm) and age at smoking initiation (16.2±5.4 vs. 15.6±5.5 years, p=0.44) did not differ in the schizophrenia and control groups respectively. In conclusion, tobacco craving as measured by the TCQ-SF was significantly greater in people with schizophrenia than controls 15 min post-smoking, despite similar scores in dependence and similar smoking histories and current smoking patterns.