Examining racial differences in smoking outcomes among smokers enrolled in an intravenous nicotine infusion study

• Published in: Addictive behaviors 2023-05, Vol.140, p.107615-107615, Article 107615
• Main Authors: Schwartz, Elizabeth K.C., Palmisano, Alexandra N., Gueorguieva, Ralitza, DeVito, Elise E., Sofuoglu, Mehmet
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Black; Black People; Humans; Negative affect; Nicotine; Nicotine clearance; Nicotine infusion; Race; Race Factors; Smokers - psychology; Smoking; Smoking - epidemiology; White; White People
• ISSN: 0306-4603; 1873-6327; 1873-6327
• DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107615

•Large racial disparities exist in smoking prevention and treatment, and Black individuals who smoke are under-represented in research of smoking-related topics.•This study analyzed differences in smoking-related outcomes between Black and White participants after confirmed overnight abstinence and after delivery of two doses of IV nicotine.•Despite slower nicotine clearance, Black participants exhibited withdrawal and urges to smoke as severe as White participants, and did not have blunted physiological responses to overnight abstinence or administration of nicotine.•Compared to Black individuals, White individuals trended towards endorsing higher levels of negative affect after abstinence and subsequent nicotine administration, and Black individuals trended towards experiencing more negative drug effects in response to initial nicotine delivery compared to saline.•Our findings suggest that racial differences in susceptibility to the pharmacological effects and toxicity of nicotine and tobacco may stem from variations in motivations for cigarette use and nicotine bioavailability, perhaps independent from rate of nicotine clearance, which may have implications for improving outcomes for Black individuals who smoke. Large racial disparities exist in the prevention and treatment of smoking-related diseases, and minoritized populations carry a heavier burden of smoking-related morbidity and mortality. To date, most studies investigating smoking-related illnesses have been conducted in samples in which the majority, or totality, self-identified as White or Caucasian. While Black individuals who smoke tend to have a lower rate of nicotine clearance, in part due to the use of mentholated cigarettes, less is known about how slower clearance affects their acute subjective and physiologic responses in response to either overnight abstinence or subsequent nicotine administration. This study aimed to investigate differences between the experiences of Black and White individuals who smoke across these outcomes after a period of short-term abstinence and after IV nicotine infusion. The study included 206 smokers (N = 103 Black, N = 103 White, by self-report). The study investigated self-report, physiological, and biochemical smoking-related outcomes following confirmed overnight abstinence followed by IV nicotine infusion. The outcome measures were separately analyzed with repeated-measures mixed-models. Black individuals had lower rates of nicotine clearance and were