001). Similarly, Latino menthol cigarette smokers selleck chem inhibitor had lower quit rates than Latino nonmenthol cigarette smokers at 4-week follow-up, 23% and 50%, respectively (p = .001), as well as lower quit rates at 6-month follow-up, 11% and 28%, respectively (p = .009). Interestingly, data regarding awakening at night to smoke were collected, and menthol smokers had a significantly higher frequency of nighttime smoking compared with nonmenthol smokers. This variable is another potential indicator of nicotine dependence. In contrast, there was no difference in smoking cessation success with menthol or nonmenthol cigarette use in the Lung Health Study (LHS) of over 5,887 smokers aged 35�C 60 years who had early evidence of obstructive lung impairment (Murray, Connett, Skeans, & Tashkin, 2007).

Enrollment occurred from 1986 to 1989. About 20% of the sample reported smoking menthol cigarettes, which remained relatively stable over the 5-year follow-up period. The proportion of continuing smokers was similar over 5 years ranging from 55.9% to 57.3% across sex by menthol/nonmenthol cigarette type groups. Those who were intermittent smokers at annual data collection over the 5-year period ranged from 26.0% to 30.4% across groups. Sustained quitters ranged from 13.8% to 17.2%. There were no differences by type of cigarette smoked. Comparison of findings of the Gandhi et al. (2009) clinic-based study and the Murray et al. (2007) LHS is complicated by variation in sample composition with 46% versus 20% being menthol cigarette smokers in the clinic-based study versus LHS, respectively.

In addition, a difference in diversity of the samples was noted with 48.5% non-White in the clinic-based study compared with 3.2% non-White in the LHS, limiting generalizability in the latter. Furthermore, different tobacco dependence treatment modalities were used in the two studies. Cropsey et al. (2009) reported no effect of menthol cigarettes on bioconfirmed smoking cessation in 233 female prisoners in the treatment arm of a two-group study. There was a treatment by race effect with higher quitting among Whites. While about half of the sample was Black, the distribution of menthol cigarette smokers was unbalanced with 49% of European Americans smoking menthol cigarettes compared with 95% of Blacks making it difficult to separate ethnicity and menthol/nonmenthol cigarette brand effects.

Five Veterans Affairs medical center pharmacy databases were used to identify 1,343 smokers who had been prescribed nicotine replacement therapy or bupropion 2 years earlier to include in a follow-up survey to determine smoking cessation among menthol/nonmenthol cigarette brand users using measures of self-reported smoking abstinence posttreatment (Fu et al., 2008). Menthol cigarette smokers GSK-3 comprised 25% of the sample, which was predominantly men (94%), White (73%), and older (mean = 56 years).