 
   Gritz et al. (1998), who did not findsignificant differences in relapse according to gender. These authors followed 12.313 men and 5.523 women during two and a half years after receiving a smoking cessation treatment. Similar results were found by Gonzales et al. (2002) in a 45 weeks follow up.
However, other studies found that women are more likely to relapse than men (Bohadana et al., 2003; Ferguson et al., 2003; Ward et al, 1997; Wetter et al, 1999), and they suggest thatwomen tend to have a higher behavioral dependence than men (Bohadana et al., 2003) and to use tobaccofor stress management and weight control (Ferguson et al., 2003).
In this sense, it is possible that the absence of significant differences between men and women in the results of the present study is due to the type of smoking cessation treatment, which include effective psychological tools (strategies for mood and anxiety management, problem solving, weight control, etc.) to cope with some of the main causes of relapse. It is possible that women take special advantage of these psychological techniques, that may enablethem to become less likely to relapse.
Some limitations of the present study should be noted. The results cannot be extrapolated to smokers in the general population, as smokers who seek specialized treatment for smoking cessation tend to be qualitatively different from those who do not (Becoña, López-Durán, Fernández del Río, & Martínez, 2014; Le Strat, Rehm, & Le Foll, 2011). Moreover, the sample size is relatively small, so it would be important to use larger samples in future studies.
Among the strengths, this study provides very relevant information about the psychological treatment of smoking cessation and more specifically about smoking relapse. The results confirm that psychological treatments for smoking cessation are effective and work equally well for both men and women and highlight the importance of continuing the research on relapse prevention.
 Este es un artículo publicado en acceso abierto bajo una licencia Creative Commons
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