Nicotine Patch Plus Lozenge is Best

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- If you really want to quit smoking this time, try combining a nicotine patch plus a nicotine lozenge for best results. 

Megan E. Piper, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, Madison, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial of smoking cessation therapies involving 1,504 adults. All participants had smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day during the previous six months and were motivated to quit. Participants were randomly assigned to one of six treatment groups: nicotine lozenge alone, nicotine patch alone, bupropion alone, patch plus nicotine lozenge, bupropion plus nicotine lozenge, or placebo. All participants received six individual counseling sessions.

When all the treatments were compared at the six-month point, only the individuals in the patch plus nicotine lozenge group were more successful in quitting than those taking placebo. Smokers using a patch and nicotine lozenge were also more likely to have quit at seven days and tended to have other more positive outcomes, such as a longer period of time before relapsing. This combination, along with the patch alone, most effectively helped people achieve at least one day of abstinence from smoking, an important step to successful quitting.

"The present results suggest that the nicotine lozenge can also be effective as an adjuvant [additional treatment] to the nicotine patch," the authors were quoted as saying. "The key seems to be that an ad libitum, or ‘as needed,’ agent must be paired with the patch. Simply using higher patch doses does not seem to augment outcomes to the same degree."

The lozenge, though effective with the patch, did not appear to work any better than placebo when used alone.

"These findings . . . suggest that a combination pharmacotherapy comprising the nicotine patch and an ad libitum nicotine replacement therapy should be routinely considered for use as a smoking cessation treatment," the authors wrote. "In addition, this study illustrates that after more than 20 years the patch remains a highly efficacious pharmacotherapy for helping people quit smoking."

SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry, November, 2009

If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Melissa Medalie at mmedalie@ivanhoe.com