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Nicotine therapy helps smokers stop slowly

Posted on: Friday, 3 April 2009, 16:40 CDT

Smokers who do not want to quit, but want to cut down, are twice as likely to stop smoking if they use nicotine replacement therapy, British researchers said.

The research team at the University of Birmingham, carried out a systematic review of seven randomized controlled trials that compared the outcomes of using nicotine replacement therapy gum or inhalators to placebos.

The studies enrolled almost 3,000 smokers who were given nicotine replacement therapy for 6-18 months. The researchers said 6.75 percent of nicotine replacement therapy smokers achieved six months of sustained abstinence -- twice the proportion who were given placebos.

This amounts to 3 percent of smokers quitting who otherwise would not have done so. The authors note that previous data suggest that half of those who sustain six months of abstinence will maintain it for the rest of their lives.

The study was published British Medical Journal.

Source: United Press International

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