title: Long-term effects of nicotine gum on weight gain after smoking cessation.
abstract: Smoking cessation usually results in weight gain. Nicotine gum therapy has been found to reduce weight gain in the first months after cessation, but its long-term effects are not fully known. The present study randomly assigned 608 smokers to receive placebo, 2 or 4 mg nicotine gum. In a follow-up analysis to the short-term weight change results reported in a previous paper [Doherty, Militello, Kinnunen, & Garvey (1996), Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 64:799-807], we examined the effects of the nicotine gum on weight change for 1 year after cessation among the 92 1-year abstainers. We found that weight change showed some variation with gum dose (active vs. placebo), but that weight change appeared to depend more strongly on the percentage of pre-cessation cotinine levels replaced by the nicotine gum. Participants who replaced higher proportions of their pre-cessation cotinine during the gum therapy period gained less weight during the first year post-cessation than those who replaced less cotinine, with those who replaced greater than 90% of their cotinine gaining only 1.7 kg by 1 year post-cessation. These findings suggest that future research is warranted to determine whether sufficiently high levels of nicotine replacement can help to permanently reduce cessation-related weight gain.
authors.affiliation: Smoking Cessation Research, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA 02108, USA. beth_nordstrom@hms.harvard.edu
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Nordstrom
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kinnunen
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Utman
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Garvey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003367:Cotinine / Q000652:urine; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005731:Ganglionic Stimulants / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005881:Gingiva; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder; D015430:Weight Gain
chemical_list: D005731:Ganglionic Stimulants; D009538:Nicotine; D003367:Cotinine