Alcohol Abuse and Smoking: Dual Recoveries

Between 80 and 95 percent of all alcohol abusers smoke cigarettes, leading to enormous public health problems. Little is known, however, about how changes in drinking and/or smoking affect recovery from both of these problems. A long-term study of alcohol abusers who also had been smokers at some point in their lives found that most of these people had recovered from both alcohol abuse and smoking and that these recoveries were very stable. Continued smoking, however, generally was associated with an increased risk for relapse to alcohol abuse.