Nicotine patches of little use to smokers, study says

Nicotine replacement therapy, including patches and gum, don't seem to help people quit smoking in the long-term, researchers say.

In a study published in Monday's online issue of the journal Tobacco Control, investigators at Harvard School of Public Health reported they followed 787 adult smokers who had recently quit.

"This study shows that using nicotine replacement therapy is no more effective in helping people stop smoking cigarettes in the long-term than trying to quit on one's own," study author Hillel Alpert said.

Heavily dependent smokers who used nicotine gum, nicotine inhalers or nasal spray to help them quit, without receiving professional help, were twice as like to relapse compared with those who did not use the products, the researchers found.

"This may indicate that some heavily dependent smokers perceive nicotine replacement therapy as a sort of 'magic' pill, and upon realizing it is not, they find themselves without support in their quitting efforts, doomed to failure," the study's authors concluded.

In the study, participants were surveyed about their use of the products over three time periods: 2001-2002, 2003-2004 and 2005-2006.

For each time period, almost a third of recent quitters reported they had relapsed. The researchers found no difference in relapse rate among those who used nicotine replacement therapy for more than six weeks, with or without professional counselling.

There was also no difference in quitting success with nicotine replacement therapy for either heavy or light smokers.

The study's authors said using public funds to provide nicotine replacement therapy is of questionable value compared with other strategies that research suggests works better, such as media campaigns, promotion of no-smoking policies and raising tobacco prices.

The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

CBC News