Cessation of long-term nicotine gum use--a prospective, randomized trial.
Nicotine gum is an important adjunct for smoking cessation for many smokers, and long-term use of nicotine gum will occur in a small percentage of patients. To date, no method of cessation in long-term users has been studied in a randomized trial. We enrolled 26 subjects at the Mayo Clinic site of the Lung Health Study who had used nicotine gum for more than 6 months to participate in a trial where subjects were randomly assigned to: (1) abrupt cessation, (2) taper with placebo gum, or (3) taper with active gum. At the end of the 6-week trial, the percentage of subjects abstinent from gum use and not smoking was not different among the three groups: 66.7% for the abrupt cessation group, 71.4% for the taper with placebo gum group and 60% for the taper with active gum group. One subject in the taper with placebo gum group relapsed to smoking during the trial but was abstinent from smoking again at long-term follow-up. Long-term follow-up (median 284 days) showed 65% of subjects were abstinent from all nicotine products. Motivated subjects can stop long-term nicotine gum use without relapse to gum use or smoking by either abrupt cessation or brief tapering.
Hurt
R D
RD
Nicotine Dependence Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Offord
K P
KP
Lauger
G G
GG
Marusić
Z
Z
Fagerström
K O
KO
Enright
P L
PL
Scanlon
P D
PD
D000328:Adult; D002638:Chewing Gum; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D012307:Risk Factors; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology
D002638:Chewing Gum; D009538:Nicotine