Effects of bupropion on cognitive performance during initial tobacco abstinence

Bupropion may aid tobacco abstinence by quickly relieving symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, perhaps including impaired cognitive performance. We examined whether bupropion would attenuate abstinence-induced cognitive deficits on the first day of a brief quit attempt, when smokers are most likely to relapse.

Smokers (N=24) with high quit interest were recruited for within-subjects cross-over test of bupropion vs placebo on ability to abstain during separate short-term practice quit smoking attempts. After introduction to working memory (N-back) and sustained attention (continuous performance task; CPT) tasks during the pre-quit smoking baseline, performance on these tasks was assessed after abstaining overnight (CO<10 ppm) on the first day of each quit attempt, while on bupropion and on placebo.

Compared to placebo, bupropion after abstinence improved correct response times for working memory (p=.01 for medication by memory load interaction) and for one measure of sustained attention (numbers, but not letters; p<.05).

Bupropion may attenuate some features of impaired cognitive performance due to withdrawal on the first day of a quit attempt. Future studies could examine whether this effect of bupropion contributes to its efficacy for longer-term smoking cessation.