Quit smoking: NRT patches and gum 'may not help'

9th January 2012 - Nicotine patches and gums, designed to help people stop smoking, don't appear to be effective long term, according to a new study.
The Department of Health has reacted to the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Massachusetts in the US, telling us other studies have found NRT is effective.

Help quitting

Lead author of the new study, Hillel Alpert said in a statement: "This study shows that using NRT (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."

The NHS says going 'cold turkey' may be appealing, and works for some, but only three in every hundred quitters manage to stop smoking permanently with willpower alone.
It says using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and other stop-smoking medicines can double your chances of quitting successfully and its quit smoking kit for 2012 contains patches and gum to beat nicotine cravings.

The study

The researchers followed 787 adult smokers in Massachusetts who had recently stopped smoking.  They were asked if they'd used a nicotine replacement therapy in the form of the nicotine patch, nicotine gum, nicotine inhaler or nasal spray to help them quit and, if so, what was the longest period of time they had used the product for continuously.

They were also asked if they had joined a quit-smoking programme or received help from a doctor, counsellor or other professional.

The results showed that almost one-third of recent quitters had relapsed. The researchers found no difference in relapse rate among those who used NRT for more than six weeks, with or without professional counselling. No difference in quitting success with use of NRT was found for either heavy or light smokers.

Conclusions

The study co-author, Lois Biener of the University of Massachusetts, said in a press release that using public funds to provide NRT to the population at large is of questionable value, particularly when it reduces the amount of money available for smoking interventions shown in previous studies to be effective, such as media campaigns, promotion of no smoking policies and tobacco price increases.

The study appears in an advance online edition of Tobacco Control and will appear in a later print issue.

Reaction

A Department of Health spokesperson told us by email: "Other studies have shown that nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is safe and effective, and can double a person's chances of successfully quitting smoking.

"We know that the majority of smokers want to quit and free local NHS stop smoking services can help them quit for good, particularly when they combine drug replacements such as NRT and counselling. However, treatments must be chosen according to what is best for the client.

"We will continue to work with the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence and other academic institutions to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of stop smoking interventions."