Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24949949›Full record

Trial reportAddictive behaviors2014

The impact of pre-cessation varenicline on behavioral economic indices of smoking reinforcement.

Nicolas J Schlienz, Larry W Hawk, Stephen T Tiffany, Richard J O'Connor, Martin C Mahoney

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Addictive behaviors, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

17 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Nicotine receptor partial agonists for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023
    Pooled it
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  5. Nicotine receptor partial agonists for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016
    Pooled it
  6. Do lab-based assessments of pretreatment smoking reinforcement and cue-specific craving predict smoking cessation with varenicline?Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2025
    Trial
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  10. The Relative Reinforcing Value of Menthol Among Young Adult Cigarette Smokers: Results From a Behavioral Choice Task.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025
    Article
  11. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Nicolas J SchlienzDepartment of Psychology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States. Electronic address: schlienz@buffalo.edu.
Larry W HawkDepartment of Psychology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States; Center for Children and Families, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States.
Stephen T TiffanyDepartment of Psychology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States.
Richard J O'ConnorDepartments of Medicine and Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, United States.
Martin C MahoneyDepartments of Medicine and Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, United States.

Funding

Evaluations of Reactions to Drug Cues in Natural SettingsR21DA019653 · NIDA · STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO · PI TIFFANY, STEPHEN T · 2007 to 2008
$415k
NIDA NIH HHS R21 DA019653
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundVarenicline was developed to aid smoking cessation by reducing smoking reinforcement. The present study tests this reinforcement-reduction hypothesis among smokers preparing to quit.

methodAfter a one-week baseline, treatment-seeking smokers were randomized to receive three weeks of varenicline or placebo (Weeks 2-4). During each of the four weeks of the study, smokers completed a hypothetical cigarette purchase task (CPT) via handheld devices in their natural environment. Behavioral economic measures of simulated smoking if cigarettes were free (demand intensity), sensitivity of consumption to increasing price (elasticity), and price at which purchases would drop to 0 (breakpoint) were estimated.

resultsThe exponential demand equation fit the purchase task data well across subjects and time. As predicted, demand intensity decreased and sensitivity to price (elasticity) increased over time. However, changes in demand intensity did not differ by treatment group. Contrary to our hypothesis that varenicline would increase sensitivity to price, the placebo group tended to become more elastic in their purchases during Weeks 2 and 3; the groups did not differ in elasticity at Week 4. Breakpoint did not vary by group, time, or their interaction.

conclusionSimulated smoking demand can be validly assessed in the natural environment of treatment-seeking smokers. Simulated demand indices of smoking reinforcement diminished as smokers approached their target quit date. However, there was no evidence that varenicline facilitated these changes over a three-week period, leaving open the mechanisms by which varenicline reduces smoking rate prior to cessation and improves long-term abstinence.

Indexed as

Reinforcement, PsychologyAdultBenzazepinesDouble-Blind MethodEconomics, BehavioralFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNicotinic AgonistsQuinoxalinesRewardSmokingSmoking CessationVareniclineBenzazepinesNicotinic AgonistsQuinoxalinesVareniclineBehavioral economicsCigarette purchase taskSmoking reinforcementSmoking rewardVarenicline

Identifiers

PMID24949949
PMCPMC4109268

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.