The relationship between a history of depression and adherence to a multicomponent smoking-cessation program

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a history of depression in female smokers (age 18-65) who did not self-report any current depression was associated with adherence to a multisession, multicomponent smoking-cessation program. Participants in a 13-week cognitive-behavioral group program plus random assignment to nicotine gum, appetite suppressant gum, or placebo chewing gum were grouped by depressive-history and compared on attendance, average expired carbon monoxide after planned cessation, and number of pieces of gum chewed. No significant differences between the depressive history (yes/no) subgroups were found on any of the three measures of adherence. The power to detect a significant difference (alpha = 0.05) was calculated to be 0.89. Group cognitive-behavioral treatment appears to be the basis of an effective smoking-cessation program for women with a history of depression who are not currently depressed.