The proportion of the mediated effect among the White subsample was 9.6%. DISCUSSION The current study examined the effect of menthol use on biochemically verified, continuous short-term www.selleckchem.com/products/Pazopanib-Hydrochloride.html smoking abstinence among a treatment-seeking sample of adult daily smokers from Houston, TX. Results from this well-controlled study failed to support a main effect of menthol use on cessation. These results are similar to a number of previous studies in the field focused on both treatment-seeking and population-based samples of smokers (Alexander et al., 2010; Fu et al., 2008; Hyland et al., 2002; Muscat et al., 2002; Pletcher et al., 2006). However, results indicated a significant racial interaction effect whereby White menthol smokers were about 5 times more likely to relapse than White nonmenthol smokers.

This pattern of results was consistent across three different conceptualizations of abstinence (e.g., intent-to-treat continuous smoking abstinence, completers-only continuous smoking abstinence, and 7-day point prevalence abstinence). The significant relationship between menthol use and smoking cessation among White smokers was somewhat unexpected, given that previous studies tend to support significant relations among minority smokers (see Foulds et al., 2010). However, results are consistent with a previous study focused on relapse prevention conducted among treatment-seeking postpartum women, which found that White nonmenthol users had 4 times higher abstinence rates than White menthol users (Reitzel et al., 2011).

Results also complement other studies suggesting that White menthol smokers experience more difficulty quitting than White nonmenthol smokers (Delnevo et al., 2011; Kahende et al., 2011). The lack of effects of menthol use on cessation among the Black smokers in the sample may reflect unique sample characteristics, as this study was comprised treatment-seeking smokers who were willing to participate in a clinical trial. As minority participation in clinical trials is generally low, the participants in this study may not be representative of the larger Black population of smokers in some important way. Likewise, the other study finding a similar pattern of results (e.g., menthol effects for Whites but not Blacks; Reitzel et al., 2011) was also a clinical trial.

Nevertheless, it is important to examine the effects of menthol use on cessation in various populations and settings to fully understand extant relations, Dacomitinib although ideally such studies should be designed with this purpose in mind. A potentially important finding in the present study was that greater tobacco dependence, as indicated by higher scores on the HSI, partially accounted for the effects of menthol use on reduced odds of smoking cessation among White smokers in this sample.