Publications by authors named "Maggie Sweitzer"

Chronic pain affects ~20% of the adult population and is associated with smoking. Smoking and pain worsen each other in the long term, but short-term temporal associations between smoking and pain throughout the day are unclear. Understanding these relationships may inform strategies for managing comorbid smoking and pain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Vaping is one of the most common forms of substance use among adolescents. Social influences play a key role in the decision to use substances and frequency of use during adolescence, and vaping is no exception. Using a sample of 891 adolescents across two time points (M = 15.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • One-fifth of US adults suffer from chronic pain, which is linked to higher consumption of tobacco and cannabis, but the connections between these substances and pain are not well studied.
  • The study analyzed data from nearly 32,000 adults over several years to understand how substance use impacts pain levels and vice versa, finding that those who used cannabis, tobacco, or both had a higher likelihood of experiencing significant pain.
  • Additionally, individuals with moderate to severe pain were more likely to use cannabis, tobacco, or both later on, suggesting a mutual influence between pain intensity and substance use patterns.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Switching to Very Low Nicotine Content (VLNC) cigarettes reduces toxicant exposure and nicotine dependence, and may improve smoking cessation. However, non-compliance with VLNCs is often high, which may reduce their effectiveness. Here, we conducted secondary analyses of a pilot smoking cessation trial utilizing VLNCs to examine associations between pre-cessation VLNC compliance and changes in smoking rate, dependence, and abstinence self-efficacy, as well as quit outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Rates of tobacco and cannabis use are disproportionately high among individuals with pain, and evidence suggests that pain may engender greater likelihood of substance co-use, yielding additive risk. This study examined national associations of pain with past-month tobacco use, cannabis use, and co-use of tobacco and cannabis.

Methods: Data came from a nationally representative US sample of adults in Wave 5 (2018-2019) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study (N = 32,014).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Sleep disturbance is characteristic of schizophrenia and at-risk populations, suggesting a possible etiological role in psychosis. Biological mechanisms underlying associations between sleep and psychosis vulnerability are unclear, although reduced sleep-regulatory brain structure volumes are a proposed contributor. This study is the first to examine relationships between psychotic-like experiences (PLEs; subclinical symptoms reflecting psychosis vulnerability/risk), sleep, and brain volumes in youth.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Half of young adults who smoke use menthol cigarettes, which is associated with continued smoking and greater nicotine dependence. Additionally, early subjective reactions to cigarettes predict future use. Menthol may blunt the sensory effects of nicotine.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rationale: Reducing nicotine content in cigarettes to ≤ 2.4 mg per g of tobacco [mg/g] reduces smoking behavior and toxicant exposure among adult daily smokers. However, cigarettes with similar nicotine content could support continued experimentation and smoking progression among young adults who smoke infrequently.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cigarette smoking remains disproportionately prevalent and is increasingly a cause of death and disability among people with HIV (PWH). Many PWH are interested in quitting, but interest in and uptake of first-line smoking cessation pharmacotherapies are varied in this population. To provide current data regarding experiences with and perceptions of smoking cessation and cessation aids among PWH living in Durham, North Carolina, the authors conducted five focus group interviews (total = 24; 96% African American) using semistructured interviews.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose Of Review: Opioid misuse, addiction, and related harm is a global crisis that affects public health and social and economic welfare. Many of the strategies being used to combat the opioid crisis could benefit from improved access and dissemination, such as that afforded by smartphone apps. The goal of this study was to characterize the purpose, audience, quality and popularity of opioid-related smartphone apps.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

An extensive epidemiological literature indicates that increased exposure to tobacco retail outlets (TROs) places never smokers at greater risk for smoking uptake and current smokers at greater risk for increased consumption and smoking relapse. Yet research into the mechanisms underlying this effect has been limited. This preliminary study represents the first effort to examine the neurobiological consequences of exposure to personally relevant TROs among both smokers (n = 17) and nonsmokers (n = 17).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Eveningness diurnal preference is common in psychiatric conditions, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and internalizing disorders. Little is known about how diurnal preference relates to sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT)-a distinct clinical construct associated with functional impairment-in clinical samples.

Method: Adult outpatients ( = 65; 43 with ADHD, 22 with internalizing/adjustment disorders) self-reported on SCT symptoms (total symptoms; slow/daydreamy, sleepy/sluggish, and low initiation/persistence factors) and diurnal preference.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Smoking is disproportionately prevalent among people living with HIV (PLWH) compared with the general population. We conducted five focus groups (n = 24) using semi-structured interview guides to explore perceptions and experiences of smoking and cessation-related interactions with health care providers among smokers with HIV. Major themes included a limited understanding of how smoking affects illness among PLWH and minimal discussion about cessation with providers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at increased risk for adverse cigarette smoking outcomes, and little is known about factors underlying this risk. This study sought to evaluate the effects of initial nicotine exposure in young adults with and without ADHD using a novel paradigm of exposure to model initial smoking experiences. Participants were young adult nonsmokers (n = 61 ADHD, n = 75 Control) between the ages of 18-25 years (inclusive) who reported never having smoked a full cigarette, and no tobacco use in the prior 3 years.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Many individuals who smoke relapse due to weight gain. Mindfulness training has been shown to help smokers quit smoking, and, in other populations, has been used to help people lose weight. This study was designed to assess the effect of one week of mindfulness practice on food cravings in smokers during 12-hour smoking abstinence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aim of this exploratory study was to assess young adult dual e-cigarette (EC) and combusted cigarette (CC) users' anticipated responses to hypothetical market restrictions regarding key EC characteristics. Data came from 240 young adult dual EC and CC users recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk in June 2017. Descriptive statistics were used to report sociodemographic, CC smoking, and EC use characteristics.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a disorder characterized by atypical patterns of reward valuation (e.g. positive valuation of hunger).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The aim of the study was to assess young adult dual e-cigarette (EC) and combusted cigarette (CC) users' anticipated responses to a hypothetical very low nicotine content product standard and menthol ban in CC.

Methods: Data came from 240 young adult (18-29 years) dual CC and EC users recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk between June 20-22, 2017. Descriptive statistics were used to report sample characteristics.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: This study investigated the effects of nicotine/tobacco on neural activation during performance of a monetary incentive delay task.

Aims And Methods: Prior to each scan, nonsmokers received nicotine or placebo nasal spray, and smokers were smoking satiated or 24-hour withdrawn. During the scan, participants made timed responses to reward-related cues and received feedback.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Smoking withdrawal negatively impacts inhibitory control, and these effects are greater for smokers with preexisting attention problems, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The current study preliminarily evaluated changes in inhibitory control-related behavior and brain activation during smoking withdrawal among smokers with ADHD. Moreover, we investigated the role of catecholamine transmission in these changes by examining the effects of 40 mg methylphenidate (MPH) administration.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Tobacco use disorder is associated with dysregulated neurocognitive function in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)-one node in a corticothalamic inhibitory control (IC) network.

Objective: To examine associations between IC neural circuitry structure and function and lapse/relapse vulnerability in 2 independent studies of adult smokers.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In study 1, treatment-seeking smokers (n = 81) completed an IC task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before making a quit attempt and then were followed up for 10 weeks after their quit date.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Environments associated with smoking may promote lapse and relapse in smokers attempting to quit. Here we examined the effects of exposure to visual smoking environment cues on smoking urge and the ability to resist smoking, as measured with a delay-to-smoking task in which monetary contingencies are provided for resisting smoking.

Methods: Adult daily smokers (n=22) completed two experimental sessions, each following 6h smoking abstinence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is linked to problematic cannabis use, but many online discussions suggest that cannabis is viewed as potentially therapeutic for treating ADHD symptoms.
  • A qualitative analysis of 268 online forum threads revealed that 25% of posts support the idea that cannabis can be beneficial for ADHD, in contrast to only 8% labeling it as harmful.
  • Despite the lack of clinical guidelines or systematic research endorsing cannabis for ADHD, this trend in online perception could influence patients and caregivers in their understanding and treatment choices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The ventral and dorsal striatum are critical substrates of reward processing and motivation and have been repeatedly linked to addictive disorders, including nicotine dependence. However, little is known about how functional connectivity between these and other brain regions is modulated by smoking withdrawal and may contribute to relapse vulnerability. In the present study, 37 smokers completed resting state fMRI scans during both satiated and 24-h abstinent conditions, prior to engaging in a 3-week quit attempt supported by contingency management.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF