Trial reportDrug and alcohol dependence2013
Dissociable effect of acute varenicline on tonic versus cue-provoked craving in non-treatment-motivated heavy smokers.
Trial report in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of varenicline and bupropion on laboratory smoking outcomes: Meta-analysis of randomized, placebo-controlled human laboratory studies.Addiction biology · 2022Pooled it
- Differences in Magnitude of Cue Reactivity Across Durations of Smoking History: A Meta-analysis.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2020Pooled it
- Sex-Specific Mediation of Pre-Quit Smoking Reduction: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial Extending Varenicline Preloading.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025Trial
- Evaluating mediators of the effect of varenicline preloading on smoking abstinence in a randomized controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Trial
- Effects of Biperiden (Cholinergic Muscarinic m1/m4 Receptor Antagonist) on Craving Nicotine: A Proof-Of-Concept Clinical Study.European addiction research · 2025Trial
- Efficacy and safety of combination behavioral activation for smoking cessation and varenicline for treating tobacco dependence among individuals with current or past major depressive disorder: A 2 × 2 factorial, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2023Trial
- Functional network connectivity predicts treatment outcome during treatment of nicotine use disorder.Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging · 2017Trial
- Dopamine, urges to smoke, and the relative salience of drug versus non-drug reward.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2015Trial
- Plain cigarette packs do not exert Pavlovian to instrumental transfer of control over tobacco-seeking.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2015Trial
- Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of the effect of varenicline on nicotine craving in adult smokers.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2015Trial
- A Secondary Analysis Suggests That Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Applied to the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Reduces Cue-Induced-Craving in Treatment Seeking Participants with Cannabis Use Disorder.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Cue-reactivity targeted smoking cessation intervention in individuals with tobacco use disorder: a scoping review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Alcohol devaluation has dissociable effects on distinct components of alcohol behaviour.Psychopharmacology · 2018Article
- Exercise attenuates negative effects of abstinence during 72 hours of smoking deprivation.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2017Article
- Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer of Nicotine and Food Cues in Deprived Cigarette Smokers.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2017Article
- Does laboratory cue reactivity correlate with real-world craving and smoking responses to cues?Drug and alcohol dependence · 2015Article
- Impulsivity and cigarette craving among adolescent daily and occasional smokers.Addictive behaviors · 2015Article
- Effects of systematic cue exposure through virtual reality on cigarette craving.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2014Article
- Extinction of cue-evoked drug-seeking relies on degrading hierarchical instrumental expectancies.Behaviour research and therapy · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleThe effectiveness of varenicline for smoking cessation has been established, but little is known about the psychological processes that mediate this clinical outcome.
objectivesThis study evaluated the effect of a single dose of varenicline on tonic and cue-provoked changes in craving, withdrawal, and affect using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over design.
methodsFollowing overnight abstinence, 38 non-treatment-motivated smokers received either varenicline 2mg or matched placebo, then tonic measures of craving, withdrawal, and positive and negative affect were obtained at 30-min intervals. At 4-h post-administration, a cue exposure session obtained the same subjective measures at three time-points following the physical handling of a lit cigarette versus the sharpening and handling of a pencil.
resultsAt 4-h post-administration, varenicline reduced tonic craving as well as craving across the smoking and neutral cue conditions, relative to placebo. By contrast, the capacity of the smoking cue to enhance craving relative to the neutral cue was unaffected by varenicline. Measures of withdrawal and positive and negative affect produced mixed results.
conclusionsAcute varenicline selectively attenuates tonic but not cue-provoked craving. This dissociation provides insight into the specific psychological processes that might mediate the effectiveness of varenicline, and highlights cue-provoked craving as a discrete target for advancing smoking cessation pharmacotherapy.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.