eMedicineLive

A new study has found that people who use nicotine patch therapy in their effort to give up smoking have less likelihood of suffering from a relapse if they continue with the patch. The study, published in the latest edition of the journal Addiction found that people trying to quit smoking often suffer from a lapse in third to fifth week into therapy. That means they are tempted to smoke cigarette around this period. In case they quit nicotine patch after a lapse, they are more likely to fall back into their smoking ways. However, if they continue using the patch, even after they have lapsed, they are more likely to be off cigarettes again.

 

The research was led by Stuart Ferguson from the University of Tasmania, Australia. The researchers analyzed the data of 509 smokers who were trying to give up smoking. 240 of them were using a 21 mg nicotine patch whereas 269 had a placebo. The participants lapsed in between the third and fifth week of the therapy. Lapse means smoking even a single cigarette while on nicotine therapy to give up smoking. It was noticed that the participants who continued with the active patch treatment were more likely to recover. This means that they were off cigarettes again within 6th to 10th week of therapy. 8% of the participants on active nicotine therapy recovered compared to less than 1% in the placebo group.

 

The results of the study imply that even if the percentage of people recovering after suffering from a lapse is not much, people with nicotine patch have better chances to recover compared to placebo group. Therefore, people on nicotine replacement therapy, through patches, gums or nasal sprays should not quit the therapy when they lapse. It takes about six serious efforts by a smoker before he is able to kick the habit for good.

 

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