In the US, people spend $US1.5 billion dollars every year on smoking cessation devices. That’s a huge market for a product that’s supposed to work the first time. A forthcoming study suggests that, in the real world, the patch is no “magic bullet”.
The 787-person study is set for online publication Monday in the online journal Tobacco Control and followed adults who had quit smoking within the previous two years. It found that in a third of cases, the person started smoking again. Of that 30 per cent, researchers found no difference in the relapse rate between people who used cessesion aides and those who did not.
This study contradicts recent studies by the FDA that found smokers who did use aides were three times more likely to quit for good. However, other studies on the subject have found some smokers are actually more likely to relapse for having used the aide. As the researchers point out, “This may indicate that some heavily dependent smokers perceive NRT [nicotine replacement therapy] as a sort of ‘magic’ pill, and upon realising it is not, they find themselves without support in their quitting efforts, doomed to failure.”
This difference in findings may be in part due to the fact that most people in the Tobacco Control study did not complete the requisite eight-week cycle, suggests GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. Had they followed through, as clinical trial participants did, their results would have potentially improved.
I can say I’ve successfully quit smoking by using the patch but have never gone with the gum. What cessation aides have worked for you? Let us know in the comments. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go have a smoke. [LA Times via DVice]
Image: Paul Cowan / Shutterstock.
S. Nolan
Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 10:23 PMTried patches, gum, counseling, even hypnotherapy. Everything failed since at heart I know I enjoy the act of smoking.
Switched to e-cigs last Easter and went from a pack a day to an average of maybe one or two almost overnight. I still have the occasional smoke at work but never at home or on the weekends. I’ve I’m surprised I found something that actually worked!
Chris
Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 10:56 PMJust got rid of the smokes too. I used patches last time and lasted 6 years before I started again. Been on them for two years now and have now been free for a week.
I got the patches and used them the first 5 days but don’t need them now. I highly recommend Alan Carr’s Easyway to Quit Smoking. I’ve heard he has turned into a bit of a nutcase lately, but that book he wrote in the early 80′s has worked great for me.