Subjective sleep disturbance during a smoking cessation program: associations with relapse

Area of Science:

• Sleep Science
• Addiction Research
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Sleep disturbances are common and may impact smoking cessation success.
• This study examined sleep changes in women during a smoking cessation program.
• The research investigated if baseline and post-quit sleep issues predict long-term smoking status.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe sleep changes over three months in women attempting to quit smoking.
• To determine if sleep disturbances at baseline or one month post-quit predict smoking status at three months.
• To explore the association between insomnia, drowsiness, sleep quality, and smoking relapse.

Main Methods:

• A randomized clinical trial involving 322 women in a smoking cessation program.
• Sleep disturbances, insomnia, drowsiness, and sleep quality were assessed pre-quit and during three months of treatment.
• Repeated measures mixed models and logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate sleep changes and predictors of smoking status.

Main Results:

• Over 25% of women reported sleep disturbances.
• Insomnia, drowsiness, and sleep quality varied over the three-month study period.
• No sleep variables measured at baseline or one month post-quit were significantly associated with smoking status at three months.

Conclusions:

• Despite higher rates of drowsiness in women who relapsed, sleep disturbances did not predict smoking relapse.
• The findings suggest that current measures of sleep disturbance may not be adequate predictors of smoking cessation outcomes in women.
• Further prospective research is necessary to clarify the role of sleep disturbances in smoking cessation treatment effectiveness.