Effects of smoking cues on caffeine urges in heavy smokers and caffeine consumers with and without schizophrenia

Cigarette smoking and caffeine use are established and problematic drug-use behaviors in people with schizophrenia. Associative links between drugs of abuse may occur but the relationship between caffeine use and cigarette smoking has received little attention in schizophrenia. In this cross-cue reactivity laboratory study, we examined the effects of neutral and smoking cues on craving for caffeinated beverages in participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SS; n = 15) and non-psychiatric controls (CS; n = 18) all of whom were heavy smokers and daily caffeine users. Participants were tested under non-abstinent and 5-hour abstinent conditions. SS tended to report greater daily levels of caffeine use than CS. Although this difference was not significant, that may be due to the small sample sizes as the size of this effect was large. Daily caffeine intake was significantly correlated with daily smoking rate in SS but not CS. A significant interaction between group and cue type after controlling for caffeine intake indicated that exposure to smoking cues increased urge for caffeinated beverages in SS but not CS. These results indicate support for associative connections between cigarette smoking cues and craving for caffeine in smokers with schizophrenia.