Clinical Correlates of Smoking Status in Men and Women with Opioid Use Disorder

Abstract

Background: Smoking is highly prevalent in people with opioid use disorder (OUD) and is a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality in this population. However, little is known about the differences between those with OUD who do and do not smoke cigarettes. Objectives: Our aim was to investigate differences between treatment-seeking adults with OUD who did and did not smoke. Methods: Participants (N = 568; 30% female) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires including measures of current smoking status and number of cigarettes smoked per day as well as measures of clinical characteristics (e.g. craving, anxiety). Results: Of the total sample, 77% were current smokers. Multivariable logistic regression identified heroin use (OR = 2.20, 95% CI = 1.38, 3.53) and younger age (OR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.95, 0.997) as strong correlates of smoking status; other characteristics were not significant. Older age and opioid craving were associated with more cigarettes smoked per day. Notably, these patterns differed for males and females; opioid craving (B = 0.62, SE_B = 0.24) was associated with the number of cigarettes smoked among men, and anxiety (B = 0.39, SE_B = 0.19) was associated with the number of cigarettes smoked among women. Conclusion: Adults with OUD who used heroin in the past month were more likely to be current smokers. No sex differences were observed in likelihood of smoking; however, the predictors of smoking status and severity differed between men and women.

Keywords:

• Opioid use disorder
• smoking
• sex differences
• anxiety

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (K23 DA035297; K02 DA042987) and the Charles Engelhard Foundation.