Changes in urinary catecholamine excretion after smoking cessation.

Excretion levels of norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine were assessed in 17 habitual cigarette smokers while smoking and periodically during 30 days of abstinence to determine whether a pattern of transient change existed, suggestive of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) involvement in tobacco withdrawal. Excretion of all three catecholamines declined 1 day after abstinence but did not return to precessation levels during the rest of the follow-up period. The results suggest that postcessation declines in excretion may be permanent changes caused by loss of tobacco's agonist effects, rather than transient withdrawal phenomena resulting from SNS adaptation to the stimulatory effects of tobacco.