Substance Use Research

SRI's Center for Health Sciences has done work in the area of substance use for almost two decades. This work has focused on two key problems:

• The predictors of relapse after individuals have stopped smoking
• The influence of genetics on smoking and related behaviors

Center staff have published numerous papers in each of these areas. Although the orientation of our staff can generally be viewed as "behavioral medicine," our approach to these problems has focused on the use of methodologies from a number of disciplines, including behavior genetics, epidemiology, sociology, and economics, as well as psychology and medicine.

Over the span of our work, we have studied thousands of smokers over intervals as long as 12 months. We have used biomedical measurement procedures including anthropometry, biochemical markers of substance use, spirometry, psychophysiology, bioelectric impedance, and ambulatory cardiovascular recordings.

This work has been sponsored by:

• The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
• The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
• The University of California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Fund

Our research participants are recruited from smoking cessation classes offered primarily by the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society. Our current specific interests are:

• The identification of subgroups at high risk for relapse after nicotine replacement therapy
• The genetic commonality that may exist between the use of alcohol, coffee, and nicotine

Project Descriptions

• Withdrawal symptoms as predictors of relapse
• Weight gain following smoking cessation

Abstracts

• Biological and behavioral predictors of smoking relapse
• Smoking relapse and high-risk subgroups
• Genetics of smoking
• Heavy consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, and coffee in male twins

Related Links

• Northern California Twin Registry
• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco