New Insights into the Development of Tobacco Dependence: A Review of Recent Research

作者：DiFranza Joseph R^*

来源：Pediatric, Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, 2012, 25(2): 76-79.

DOI：10.1089/ped.2012.0153

Through the end of the 20th century, it was widely assumed that physical dependence on tobacco developed only after years of moderate-to-heavy daily smoking. A string of adolescent studies now establishes that physical dependence typically begins soon after the onset of very light nondaily smoking. Case series and surveys reveal that certain symptoms of physical dependence develop in a set sequence that appears to be characteristic of all dependent smokers. This sequence of symptom development provides the basis for an objective clinical approach to staging the progression of dependence. The identification of a set sequence in the development of the symptoms of physical dependence suggests that the as-yet-unidentified neurological cause of physical dependence also develops in a set sequence. This insight provides hope for identifying the cause of physical dependence and its cure.

• 出版日期2012-6