The Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence: a revision of the Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire

TLDR

The study aims to examine and refine the Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire and present a revised Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). The authors evaluated the relationship between each FTQ item and biochemical indicators of smoking heaviness in a sample of 254 smokers. They found that the nicotine rating and inhalation items were unrelated to biochemical measures and contributed to psychometric deficiencies, whereas revised scoring of time to first cigarette and cigarettes per day improved the scale.

Abstract

We examine and refine the Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ: Fagerström, 1978). The relation between each FTQ item and biochemical measures of heaviness of smoking was examined in 254 smokers. We found that the nicotine rating item and the inhalation item were unrelated to any of our biochemical measures and these two items were primary contributors to psychometric deficiencies in the FTQ. We also found that a revised scoring of time to the first cigarette of the day (TTF) and number of cigarettes smoked per day (CPD) improved the scale. We present a revision of the FTQ: the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND).