Medscape (1/16, Brauser) reports that “individuals who successfully quit smoking may experience a marked reduction in anxiety, whereas failure to achieve abstinence may lead to a long-term increase in anxiety, new research suggests.” The study, which was published in the January issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry and included nearly 500 adult smokers who attended smoking cessation clinics in England, “showed that those who relapsed 6 months after treatment had significantly higher anxiety scores than those who remained abstinent.” Moreover, the study found that “the smokers who had a comorbid psychiatric disorder and who relapsed had the highest increases in anxiety scores from baseline, whereas the comorbid group who continued to stay abstinent had more decreases in scores.”
