Smoking •

No Statistical Difference between Varenicline and Nicotine Patches

A recent study found no significant difference between smoking surrogates.

For someone who smoked for a very long time, quitting is sometimes a very difficult task to undertake. Most of the smokers who want to quit their habit simply use willpower, while other need to try out different nicotine surrogates like nicotine patches, lozenges or even pill. According to a team of scientists, there is no statistical difference between varenicline and nicotine patches.

Some of the anti-tobacco ads keep telling us that quitting is a piece of pie. In reality, you need more than willpower in order to triumph over the urge to light up another coffin nail. Indeed, there are people who manage to stare at the opened pack of cigarettes and say “I quit!”, but these case are very rare indeed.

Most of us need a couple of surrogates before we can truly say that we quit smoking. Nicotine patches can work wonders if you’ve been smoking for a very long time. And in rare cases of chronic smoking, the specialists can use a combo of nicotine patch and a pill that is capable of easing the symptoms of smoking withdrawal.

A recent study wanted to see what the best way to quit smoking is. In order to see some result, the team of medical researchers from the University of Wisconsin used the help of over a thousand volunteers.

According to the team, all of the members who enrolled in this clinical trial used to smoke an average of 17 cigarettes per day. In order to see what the best way to quit smoking is, each of the test subjects randomly received a surrogate. The study followed the evolution of the group over a period of three months.

To see if the smokers managed to keep away from cigarettes, after the 26^th week, each individual was asked if they smoked during the last week. And to ensure that the results are valid, each member was submitted to a routine blood test in order to ascertain the level of CO2 in their blood.

The scientists concluded that there is no statistical difference between varenicline and nicotine patches. Moreover, it seems that smokers are able to quit simply by using either lozenges or nicotine patches. That way, they can escape from the side-effects of varenicline, a withdrawal pill, like nausea or constipation.

As for the numbers, it would seem that approximately 23 percent of the participants who used nicotine patches kicked their habit after the 26^th week. Moreover, 24 percent of the patients who used varenicline check out after week 26 and 27 percent of those who used lozenges were clean and bright at the end of the study.

In conclusion, there is no statistical difference between varenicline and nicotine patches, and that patients can easily quit by using any of the three methods.

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Study backs unbranded, plain cigarette packaging to check smoking habit

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A new study has backed the policy of removing branding from cigarette packets will as it has showed that the measure would succeed in compelling smokers abandon the habit.

The research findings have contradicted the claims made by the tobacco industry that such a policy would turn ineffective in deterring the smokers.

The report comes in the midst of a crucial voting on switching to plain packaging in England by the lawmakers in March this year.

If the MPs votes in favour of the move, England would become the second country in the world after Australia to bring the measure to combat the rise in number of smokers.

According to the researchers, plain packaging slashed the “unconscious trigger for smoking urges” that is said to be created by the tobacco products branding.

The study showed that the branding of such injurious products increase the amount of attention that young as well as occasional smokers paid to the health warnings.

Highlighting the findings of the study, Addiction editor-in-chief Professor Robert West said, “Even if standardized packaging had no effect at all on current smokers and only stopped one in 20 young people from being lured into smoking it would save about 2,000 lives each year.”

As the government had announced in January that it would be introducing legislation supporting unbranded, plain packs ahead of the general election, the analysts are expecting the sale of tobacco products in plain, unbranded packets as early as May 2016.

The findings of the study were published in the scientific journal Addiction.

‘Nicotine metabolism’ determines how efficiently smokers kick their habit

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A new study has found that it’s the pace of nicotine metabolism in a smokers’ body that determines how quickly they will quit the smoking habit and what’s the most effective way to do so.

The findings were concluded in a first-of-its-kind largest randomised clinical study of tobacco dependence treatment.

The researchers found that the normal metabolisers of nicotine showed better quit rates due to the use of non-nicotine replacement therapy drug varenicline (also called Chantix or Champix) in comparison to the nicotine patch when the treatment ended as well as six months later. On the other hand, slow metabolizers were found yielding similar quitting success rate due to the use of nicotine patch, but without the side-effects reported with varenicline.

According to the researchers, Pfizer’s Varenicline was equally effective as a nicotine patch in helping the smokers kick their habit. However, Varenicline reported more overall side-effects among the smokers.

Detailing the study, lead author Caryn Lerman, said, “Matching a treatment choice based on the rate at which smokers metabolise nicotine could be a viable strategy to help guide choices for smokers and ultimately improve quit rates.”

Lerman is a Psychiatry professor and director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Nicotine Addiction at Penn’s School of Medicine.

Nicotine metabolism and the slow and normal metabolisers illustrate how long nicotine consumed from cigarettes stays in the body after quitting the habit.

For the study, 1,246 treatment-seeking smokers were involved and then divided into two group- slow metabolisers (662) and normal metabolisers (584).

They were randomised to 11-weeks of either varenicline (plus placebo patch), the nicotine patch (plus a placebo pill) or a placebo pill and patch. All the participants also received behavioural counseling during the trial period.

Concluding the findings of the study, the researchers said that varenicline was more effective in helping smokers quitting their habit that the nicotine patch among normal metabolisers. On the other hand, the efficacy was equivalent for both varenicline and nicotine patch among slow metabolisers. But smokers with slow nicotine metabolism reported more overall side effects from the drug, suggesting use of the patch more beneficial for them.

The findings of the study were published online in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

Cigarette smoking among American adults hits record low

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In an encouraging development, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that the rate of cigarette smoking among American adults has touched its lowest level on record, thanks to the anti-smoking campaigns, smoke-free government policies and a significant drop in its prices.

According to the federal health agency report, nearly 17.8 percent of US adults smoked cigarettes last year, which is a drop from the 2005 and 1965 figures when 20.9 percent and 42.4 percent people had undergone smoking respectively.

Notably, the US government had started keeping records on smoking trends among the adults as well as the teens since 1965.

Along with an overall decline in the numbers of adult smokers, the CDC study also found a significant drop in daily smoking habits.

As per the study, the American smokers consumed an average of 14.2 cigarettes a day in 2013, a drop from 16.7 in 2005.

Brian King, a senior advisor with the CDC’s Smoking and Health office, said even if the declining trend is an encouraging development but the current rate is not sufficient to meet the federal goal of 12 percent reduction in the adult cigarette smoking by 2020.

“We need to accelerate the magnitude of the decline,” King asserted.

With 480,000 premature deaths annually, tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable disease in the United States.

The CDC credited the large scale anti-smoking and anti-tobacco awareness programs and the increased access to proper medications and rehabilitation programs for playing a major role in the dropping smoking rates.

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