Interrelationship of smoking and alcohol dependence, use and urges to use.

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between tobacco dependence and alcohol dependence has received little empirical scrutiny. The present study of alcoholics in treatment for alcoholism investigated pretreatment tobacco and alcohol history and dependence, as well as subjective responsivity to alcohol cues. METHOD: Eighty-three male alcoholics underwent a questionnaire assessment of smoking and drinking pretreatment followed by a laboratory assessment of reactivity to alcohol cues. RESULTS: The analyses demonstrate that (1) pretreatment tobacco dependence and pretreatment alcohol dependence are related, (2) alcohol dependence predicts urges to smoke during alcohol treatment, (3) exposure to alcohol cues results in increased urge to smoke, (4) smoking when ill predicts urge to drink during alcohol cue exposure and (5) urge to smoke is positively correlated with urge to drink. CONCLUSIONS: These data, collected in a population of alcoholics not currently receiving smoking interventions, indicate that smoking may be a factor to address during alcohol treatment. The clinical importance of these data is discussed.