No magic pill to quit smoking

Smokers who count on nicotine patches or gum to help them quit may want to reconsider: A new study finds that these and other nicotine replacement products aren't effective at preventing former smokers from relapsing in real-world conditions. Among 787 adults who had quit smoking within the previous two years, nearly a third reported having returned to using cigarettes, according to a study published online recently by the journal Tobacco Control. Those who had used nicotine patches, gum, inhalers or nasal sprays were just as likely to relapse as those who had quit without them, researchers from Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts found. The findings run counter to the results of several randomised clinical trials conducted before the Food and Drug Administration gave the thumbs-up to these nicotine replacement products in the 1990s. In those trials, volunteers using such products were up to three times more likely to kick the smoking habit. But the latest results are in line with other studies that have found little — if any — benefit from the products when used by smokers in real life. "This may indicate that some heavily dependent smokers perceive NRT [nicotine replacement therapy] as a sort of ‘magic' pill, and, upon realising it is not, they find themselves without support in their quitting efforts, doomed to failure," the researchers wrote. The new study examined former smokers three times over a five-year period. At the midpoint of the study, 30.6 per cent of recent quitters had gone back to smoking. By the end, 31.3 per cent had relapsed.