Trial reportNicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco2024
Depression Severity Moderates Reward Learning Among Smokers With Current or Past Major Depressive Disorder in a Smoking Cessation Randomized Clinical Trial.
Trial report in Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02378714 (Behavioral Activation and Varenicline for Smoking Cessation in Depressed Smokers), which is not on this map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
Behavioral Activation and Varenicline for Smoking Cessation in Depressed Smokers
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.
- Probing biomarkers and clinical utility of reward learning across species using the Probabilistic Reward Task: 20 years of findings.Nature. Mental health · 2026Article
- Longitudinal changes in reinforcement learning during smoking cessation: a computational analysis using a probabilistic reward task.Scientific reports · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 9 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionBehavioral and pharmacological smoking cessation treatments are hypothesized to increase patients' reward learning to reduce craving. Identifying changes in reward learning processes that support effective tobacco-dependence interventions among smokers who experience depression may guide patients toward efficient treatment strategies. The objective was to investigate the extent to which adult daily cigarette smokers with current or past major depressive disorder (MDD) learned to seek reward during 12 weeks of treatment combining behavioral activation and varenicline. We hypothesized that a decline in reward learning would be attenuated (least to most) in the following order: (1) behavioral activation integrated with ST (BASC) + varenicline, (2) BASC + placebo, (3) standard behavioral cessation treatment (ST) + varenicline, (4) ST + placebo.
methodsWe ran a phase IV, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial with 300 participants receiving 12 weeks of one of four conditions across two urban medical centers. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI). Reward learning was ascertained at weeks 1, 7, and 14 using the Probabilistic Reward Task (PRT), a laboratory task that uses an asymmetric reinforcement schedule to assess (a) learning to seek reward (response bias), (b) differentiate between stimuli, and (c) time to react to cues.
resultsThere was a significant interaction of BDI group × PRT response bias. Response bias declined from weeks 7 to 14 among participants with high baseline depression symptoms. The other two BDI groups showed no change in response bias.
conclusionsControlling for baseline depression, participants showed a decrease in response bias from weeks 1 to 14, and from weeks 7 to 14. Treatment condition and abstinence status were unassociated with change in reward learning. IMPLICATIONS: Smokers who report greater depression severity show a decline in reward learning despite their participation in smoking cessation treatments, suggesting that depressed populations pose unique challenges with standard smoking cessation approaches.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02378714.
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