A second rater extracted information about the sample size, intervention, craving measurement, outcome variables, and craving�Coutcome statistics http://www.selleckchem.com/products/Gefitinib.html (when available) from each study. Any discrepancies between raters were discussed and reconciled. Agreement was high between the two raters with the percentage agreement for each variable as follows: sample size, 90%; intervention, 97%; craving/outcome measurement and timing of craving/outcome assessments, 100%; and craving�Coutcome statistics, 97%. Figure 1. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses flow chart. The average sample size of the 62 studies included in this review was 348 (the largest sample size used for any analysis reported by a given study was used to derive this average, SD = 503, median = 167, range n = 20�C2,645); the total number of participants was 21,547.

Mean participant age was 40 years (SD = 7, median = 41, range 15�C49; mean participant age weighted by sample size = 42 years) and mean number of cigarettes per day (CPD) was 23 (SD = 4.5, median = 22, range 12�C36; mean CPD weighted by sample size = 22). Just under half of the studies (45%) assessed nicotine dependence using the Fagerstr?m Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND; Heatherton, Kozlowski, Frecker, & Fagerstr?m, 1991); the average reported FTND score out of a possible score of 10 was 5.20 (SD = 0.76, median = 5.3, range 3.53�C6.67; mean FTND score weighted by sample size = 5). Cessation outcome was measured as close as 24hr postcessation to as far as 2 years postquit (see Tables 1�C4).

The treatments implemented in these 62 studies included psychosocial-based interventions (k = 18), pharmacological interventions (k = 4), a combination of psychosocial and pharmacological treatment (k = 28), and no formal treatment beyond asking participants to make at least one quit attempt (k = 12). What Is the Overall Relationship Between Craving and Smoking Cessation Treatment Outcome? A total of 198 analyses were extracted from the 62 studies that were included in this review. A lack of significant association between craving and treatment outcome was reported in 104 analyses (52.5%), while 94 analyses (47.5%) found significant support for this association.

Across all 62 studies, 26 found significant relationships GSK-3 between craving and outcome in each analysis conducted, 18 reported nonsignificant relationships between craving and outcome in each analysis conducted, and 18 found mixed results depending on the craving or outcome measure used in the analysis. The 94 analyses that identified a statistically significant relationship between craving and treatment outcome were extracted and combined when possible to determine the magnitude of these effects. Statistics were converted to correlations when possible, and the inverse of odds ratios (ORs) < 1.0 were taken to allow for averaging across ORs.