[Epidemiological studies on tobacco smoking and dependence in Hokkaido prefecture--relation to alcoholism]

Self-report symptom profiles for nicotine psychic dependence and nicotine physical dependence were examined in data obtained from 363 male and 82 female smokers. The subjects consisted of 363 healthy volunteer and 82 alcoholics. The questionnaire used in this study, consisted of items of the ICD-10 and DSM-IV. The ratio of nicotine dependence diagnosed according to the ICD-10 criteria was lower in alcoholics (22.0%) than in non-alcoholics (54.4%). A total of 19.4% of alcoholics experienced "progressive neglect of alternative pleasures or interest in favour of smoking"; however, only 2.2% of non-alcoholics had the same experience. Although the ratio of nicotine physical dependence diagnosed using the DSM-IV criteria (nicotine withdrawal), was 4.9% in alcoholics, only 0.3 % of non-alcoholics exhibited nicotine physical dependence. These results indicate that the potential for nicotine dependence is not higher than that for other drug dependence and suggested that nicotine physical dependence potential is not much stronger than that reported among social smokers.