Differential Impact of Innovative Intervention Approaches on Cigarette Smokers by Nicotine Dependence Severity in Chennai

health sector but also affects economic stability. 8Nicotine has a peculiar neurological mechanism: it acts as an agonist by binding with nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) on neurons, which increases the release of dopamine in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra.This surge of dopamine release associated with pleasure acts as an addiction, which makes the individual depend on the habit of smoking. 9Tobacco cessation counseling has been reported to be effective in aiding smokers to quit the habit through counseling, pharmacological, and nonpharmacological therapies.Counseling individuals with one-to-one interaction has been found to IntroductIonCurrent tobacco usage (CTU) in India has been reported to be 35.2%among adults between 2010 and 2022, in which males had a higher prevalence of 54.1% and females were 15%.But the systematic review found a disparity between the estimated CTU and individual smoking estimates. 1Smoking in India accounts for 12.6%, and over 1.35 million deaths annually were reported worldwide due to tobacco. 2 Oral cancer is ranked as the eighth most common cause of deaths due to cancer, and smoking is a potential cause. 3A study has reported usage of smokeless tobacco (SLT) is 51%, and current smokeless tobacco users are 20.4%.Being dominant in agriculture, a wide range of SLTs are available in India, and the elderly users are at a higher percentage compared to adults. 4onsumption of SLTs has severe adverse effects in the oral cavity such as staining, halitosis, loss of teeth, oral ulcers, dental caries, white/red spot lesions that lead to precancerous lesions, oral and pharyngeal cancers.The nicotine present in the SLT products gets absorbed and causes long-term adverse effects related to cardiac health through the nervous system. 5,6The prevalence of usage of SLT among women has reduced from 18.4% in Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 1 to 12.8% in GATS 2, but the prevalence was high among women in the northeastern regions of India in both GATS. 7he major component present in tobacco products is nicotine, which has a highly addictive potential that is considered a global health issue, especially in India with its high prevalence.The burden of tobacco use not only holds an impending threat to the