title: Quitting smoking with varenicline: parallel, randomised efficacy trial in Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Smoking cessation programmes were first introduced in Iran in 1997. To date a number of types of nicotine replacement therapy have been prescribed.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effectiveness of varenicline for tobacco cessation.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a randomised parallel  clinical study conducted in 2010. Participants were smokers willing to quit who were visiting a smoking cessation clinic for the first time and were randomly divided into three groups: all three groups received brief counselling on cessation, Group 2 received nicotine patches and Group 3 was  prescribed varenicline for 8 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 272 participants in the study: 91 in Group 1, 92 in Group 2 and 89 in Group 3. At the end of the first month, 128 of the 272 subjects (47.1%) succeeded in quitting: 17 (18.7%) in Group 1, 60 (65.2%) in Group 2 and 51 (57.3%) in Group  3 (P = 0.000). At follow-up after 12 months, 58 subjects (21.3%) remained smoke-free, of whom 6 (6.6%) were in Group 1, 23 (25%) in Group 2 and 29 (32.6%) in Group 3 (P = 0.000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the study, varenicline treatment was slightly more effective than but not significantly  different from nicotine replacement therapy.
authors.affiliation: Tobacco Prevention & Control Research Centre, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heydari
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Talischi
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Tafti
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Masjedi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001552:Benzazepines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015995:Prevalence; D011810:Quinoxalines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D000068580:Varenicline
chemical_list: D001552:Benzazepines; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D011810:Quinoxalines; D000068580:Varenicline