title: Cessation of long-term nicotine gum use--a prospective, randomized trial.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Nicotine Dependence Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Hurt
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Offord
authors.forename: G G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Lauger
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Marusić
authors.forename: K O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Fagerström
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Enright
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Scanlon
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D002638:Chewing Gum; D009538:Nicotine