Phase 1: Participant recruitment and data collection. Participants (N=223) were recruited via social media advertisements, university-targeted announcements, referrals from collaborating pulmonologists, and local newspaper notices. 60 were ex-smokers and 163 were current smokers (long-term or recent). Recruitment targeted a community-based sample spanning a wide age range and varying levels of tobacco dependence:
• Day 1 (Baseline): Participants completed baseline assessments including the Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence, stress-induced psychophysiological measurements using the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT), HRV recordings during rest and stress, qEEG recordings, and saliva collection for cortisol, ACTH and cotinine readings.
• Day 2 (24-hour abstinence): Following acute abstinence, participants underwent repeat qEEG and HRV measurements, withdrawal symptom assessments, and smoking cue reactivity testing.
• Days 3-180 (Cessation intervention): Participants entered the Flexiquit computerized smoking cessation program with follow-up assessments at 3 and 6 months post-quit.
Phase 2: Data analysis and results. Comprehensive statistical analyses were conducted using repeated-measures ANOVAs, correlation analyses, linear regressions and principal components analysis with hierarchical clustering to identify relapse vulnerability patterns.
Phase 3: Dissemination and Exploitation:
• Apostolakis M., Georgiou A., Valiantis S., Panayiotou G., Zanos P. (2025, oral presentation). Stress Reactivity and Emotion Regulation Difficulties as Predictors of Nicotine Relapse Vulnerability. European Congress of Psychology, Paphos, Cyprus
• Apostolakis M., Georgiou A., Valiantis S., Panayiotou G., Zanos P. (2025, oral presentation). Stress Reactivity and Emotion Regulation Difficulties as Predictors of Nicotine Relapse Vulnerability. 19th Panhellenic conference of psychological research, Hellenic Psychological Society, Ioannina, Greece.
• Valiantis S., Apostolakis M., Panayiotou G., Robinson J.D. Paraskevopoulos E., Chatzittofis A., Georgiou A., Zanos P. Nicotine relapse vulnerability: The role of biomarkers in understanding risk. Submitted.
• Apostolakis M., Papamiltiadou M., Valiantis S., Panayiotou G. Zanos P. Resting-state EEG markers of abstinence: A systematic review. In Preparation
• Apostolakis M., Valiantis S., Georgiou A., Panayiotou G., Zanos P. Cortical-Autonomic coupling in nicotine dependence and under stress during acute abstinence. In Preparation
Knowledge Transfer and Training:
• Delivered lectures to students in Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychopharmacology classes at the University of Cyprus about our project and results.
• Established ongoing collaborations with research groups in the UK on identifying epigenetic biomarkers predicting nicotine relapse propensity.
• Gave invited talks in the Open University (Anoikto Panepistimio) as well as presented in an International Conference, with global outreach.
• Participated in The European Researchers Night to engage with the general public, with more than 1000 attendants.
