To the Editor A recent study provided valuable data in the area of smoking cessation but used the term treatment failure synonymously with nonabstainer and designated treatment failure as 6 weeks of treatment without achieving abstinence. For clinicians and patients alike, it is important to distinguish the difference between lack of abstinence and treatment failure. A reduction in smoking from 20 cigarettes per day at week 0 to 10 cigarettes per day at week 6 is both an accomplishment and a lack of abstinence, but not a failure. With nicotine dependence, the concept of failure often creates the perception that a treatment should be discontinued because it is not working, and that it will not work if retried in the future.
