Budgetary impact analysis on funding smoking-cessation drugs in patients with COPD in Spain.

The aim of the study was to assess the budgetary impact of funding smoking-cessation drugs in COPD patients in Spain. A hybrid model (cohort and Markov) was developed for a 5-year time horizon. Only approved cessation drugs (varenicline, bupropion, and nicotine replacement therapy) were considered.

Association of a novel polymorphism of the β2-chimaerin gene (CHN2) with smoking.

Objective: The CHN2 gene encodes the β2-chimaerin, a Rac-specific guanosine-5'-triphosphatase activating protein with an important role in the establishment of functional brain circuitry by controlling axon pruning. Genetic studies suggest that the CHN2 gene harbors variants that contribute to addiction vulnerability and smoking behavior. To further evaluate the role of β2-chimaerin in nicotine addiction, we investigated the association of 3 individual polymorphisms of the CHN2 gene with smoking dependence.

Usefulness of the LCOPD, CAFS and CASIS scales in understanding the impact of COPD on patients.

Background: The Living with COPD (LCOPD), COPD and Asthma Fatigue Scale (CAFS), and COPD and Asthma Sleep Impact Scale (CASIS) are instruments developed to assess the overall impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on daily life, fatigue, and sleep impairment, respectively.

Objectives: To assess the usefulness of these instruments and to identify factors associated with the concepts they measure.

Method: The questionnaires were administered to patients with moderate to severe COPD.

[The cinema as a vector of expansion of the smoking epidemic].

For many years the film industry has been a loyal contributor to the tobacco industry by showing actors smoking cigarettes onscreen and hence encouraging young people to become nicotine addicts. The Prevention of Nicotine Addiction movement in the United States has adequately documented this phenomenon and there is now sufficient scientific evidence to demonstrate the close relationship between smoking in films and the onset of smoking in adolescents and young adults. To encourage social debate, working groups have been created to put pressure on the film industry through the use of commercials in mainstream media in the hope of making Hollywood accept its responsibility and change its attitude.

[Benefit of brief interventions and pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation in teenagers].

Management of smoking includes approaches such as health advice against smoking, brief or intensive interventions, and pharmacotherapy. However, we do not have enough information on the use of such approaches in teenagers. School programs aimed at children and adolescents are perhaps the most widely used intervention and the one for which we have the most experience.

Adverse effects of pharmacological therapy for nicotine addiction in smokers following a smoking cessation program.

This multicenter, community-based, prospective, longitudinal study evaluated the safety of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), bupropion, and combined therapy of NRT and bupropion for smokers seeking to quit, when these therapies were used under real-world conditions following a smoking cessation program. Participants were smokers aged 18 years or older who attended five smoking cessation clinics. Evaluations were made at 15, 30, 60, and 90 days.

[Genetic basis of tobacco dependence].

Dependence on tobacco is one of the most important health problems in our society due to the direct relationship with lung cancer. Early studies in twins revealed that genetic factors modify the susceptibility to develop tobacco dependence. Different studies are underway to try to find an association between polymorphisms of genes involved either in nicotine metabolization or in neural transmission and the initiation and maintenance of the dependence on tobacco.