Increased Smoking Cessation among Veterans with Large Decreases in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Severity.
Joanne SalasSarah GebauerAuston GillisCarissa van den Berk-ClarkF David SchneiderPaula P SchnurrMatthew J FriedmanSonya B NormanPeter W TuerkBeth E CohenPatrick J LustmanJeffrey F ScherrerPublished in: Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (2021)
Patients with PTSD are more likely to develop chronic health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Poor health behaviors, including smoking, partly explain the risk for chronic disease in this patient population. Our results demonstrate that clinically meaningful PTSD improvement is followed by greater likelihood of smoking cessation. Thus, PTSD treatment may enable healthier behaviors and reduce risk for smoking related disease.