Original articleDifferences between smokers and nonsmokers in regional gray matter volumes and densities
Section snippets
Subjects
Thirty-six subjects (19 smokers and 17 nonsmoking control subjects), 21–65 years of age, were recruited through local newspaper advertisements. They were initially screened during a semistructured telephone interview to assess smoking, medical, psychiatric, medication, and substance use history. Smokers were defined as those who smoked at least 20 cigarettes per day and met DSM-IV criteria for nicotine dependence. Nonsmoking history was defined as having smoked no more than five cigarettes in a
Results
The smoker and nonsmoker groups were similar in age (mean 39.5 ± 10.3 vs. 37.9 ± 12.9 years, respectively), gender (42.1% vs. 41.2% female), ethnicity (74% vs. 64% Caucasian), handedness (0% vs. 6% left-handed), and HAM-D (mean 2.0 ± 2.7 vs. 1.2 ± 1.7) and HAM-A (2.4 ± 2.3 vs. 1.6 ± 1.8) scores. Smokers had higher exhaled carbon monoxide levels (18.3 ± 7.1 vs. 1.9 ± .7 parts per million (ppm), Student t test, p = 7.1 × 10−9), and FTND scores (5.1 ± 1.9 vs. 0 ± 0, Student t test, p = 6.5 × 10−13
Discussion
In this study, smokers had smaller relative cortical gray matter volumes and lower gray matter densities than nonsmokers in the prefrontal cortices (DLPFC and VLPFC). Smokers also had smaller left dorsal ACC volumes and lower right cerebellar gray matter densities than nonsmokers. No regions were significantly larger or had significantly higher gray matter densities in smokers compared with nonsmokers. The smoker group also had an association between greater pack-year smoking history and lower
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a Veterans Affairs Type I Merit Review Award (ALB), the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (ALB [7KT-0098 and 11RT-0024] and EDL [10RT-0091]), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (ALB [R01 DA15059] and EDL [RO1 DA14093]).
We thank Sanjaya Saxena and Richard Traystman for suggestions regarding the manuscript, and Michael Clark for technical assistance in performing magnetic resonance imaging scans. This was presented in part at the American College of
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