Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Gender Differences In Smoking Behaviour And Cessation, Chizimuzo T.C. Okoli, Iris Torchalla, Natalie Hemsing, Lorraine Greaves

Chizimuzo T.C. Okoli

This article reviews the literature to compare differential outcomes among men and women after smoking cessation, assess barriers they may face during cessation and provide recommendation to address gender-specific challenges in smoking cessation interventions. There is some evidence that women achieve lower abstinence rates than men after a quit attempt with nicotine replacement therapy, as well as without pharmacotherapy, and several underlying mechanisms were discussed to account for these findings. These include: (a) women have specific genetic variants that affect pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the medication, (b) hormonal influences increase nicotine metabolism and withdrawal symptoms, (c) women are more responsive …