Nicotine patches, gum won't help smokers quit for good: Study

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(CBS) For smokers who want to make the leap to quit, are nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs) the way to go? A new study suggests therapies like the nicotine patch and gum may not be as effective as some smokers trying to quit might hope.

PICTURES - 55 gruesome tobacco warning labels

For the study, researchers at Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Massachusetts Boston followed 787 adult smokers in Massachusetts who had recently quit smoking. They asked whether the participants had used a nicotine replacement therapy - including nicotine patches, gum, inhalers or nasal sprays - to help them quit, and if they had, for how long. Participants were also asked if they had received help from a quit-smoking program, doctor, counselor or other professional.

What did the study show? Almost one third of quitters relapsed. And the relapse rate was the same for those who used nicotine therapies for more than six weeks and those who didn't - with or without professional counseling. Whether the participants were heavy or light smokers made no difference either on the therapies' effectiveness.

"This study shows that using NRT is no more effective in helping people stop smoking cigarettes in the long-term than trying to quit on one's own," study co-author Hillel Alpert, a research scientist at Harvard Medical School said in a written statement. He added that even though some earlier studies have found the therapies to be effective, those studies didn't always factor in the general population.

The study was published in the Jan. 9  online edition of Tobacco Control.

According to Greg Connolly, director of the center for global tobacco control at the Harvard School of Public Health, nicotine therapies are not meant to help smokers quit forever. They are "designed to treat withdrawal, which is a symptom that occurs from stopping to probably six months, and then it usually ends," he told CNN.

If nicotine therapies don't work, what does? Study co-author Dr. Lois Biener, a senior research fellow at the University of Massachusetts in Boston said in the statement that earlier studies have shown media campaigns, no smoking policies, and tobacco price increases are effective smoking cessation tactics for the general population.

Dr. Steven Schroeder, director of the smoking cessation program at the University of California, San Francisco, told WebMD the study is "a useful reminder that there are many ways to help smokers quit and we shouldn't over-emphasize nicotine replacement therapy."

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that adult smoking rate decline and quitting rates have stalled in the past five years.

The CDC has more on smoking cessation.

55 Photos

55 gruesome tobacco warning labels

[Teddymissypants]

If it wasn't for the patch... I would still be smoking! I've been smoke free for over 10 yrs. .. I Would never go back to that nasty filthy habit again!

[cynandwyn]

After over 40 YEARS FINALLY smoke free but it took CHANTIX a pill. All the other stuff had nicotine I tried the patches, the nicoderm gum, the commit they worked only while using them. Once each product was completed the urge was strong and smoking began again. Now I have been smoke free the end of March will make one year. This is the longest I have EVER been NON SMOKING in my life or since I was 14 or 15 years old. I still have now and then an urge to but fight it off by eating a small piece of candy or vegtable. I am just so thrilled and wish that CHANTIX had been around years ago it is a miricle drug. They say there might be side effects but I had none thankfully. Now I just keep saying I am Smoke free; not longer a slave to nicotine and pray I never will fall down and be that again ever. WOW; almost a years and it feels so fantastic. Not trying to bash the other stop smoking programs as they do work for some.

[DocScience]

Gosh, you mean all that stuff about nicotine, the chemical, being the cause of smoking addiction were wrong???

Can RJ Reynolds get their billions back?

[David_Chowes]

YES, NICOTINE GUM & OTHER TECHNIQUES DO WORK

But, not through any active ingredients. They work due to the motivation the person has who buy the Nicorete and, etc.

More importantly: it is due the placebo effect.

[bileven]

Not necessarily true, once again, comes down to the person. When using the nicotine patches, I, personally, noticed a difference in how I felt. It doesn't deal with the physical addiction, nor the crutch. But it does provide enough of a chemical balance, that someone can have one less of the problem to face.

Tobacco use is a multi-faced beast. You have the chemical addiction, the emotional crutch and the physical dependency. Smokers also develop habititual usages, such as when driving, at the computer, first waking, bathroom breaks, etc... And just the activity can trigger a "withdrawl". Not for the nicotine, but the habit.

People face the same problems with food and alcohol addictions. Each case is on an individual basis, and sadly this study tries to engage the fact that something is ineffective just because a group of people.

No doubt if they did it again, they would get much different results. Worst of all, how many of those people lied? How many of them used the "I tried everything" excuse, but in reality, they bought the patch and it still remains unopened? How many were just ashamed to admit they failed?

[Samlv]

Doesn't this bolster the notion that how badly YOU want to quit smoking determines success?

[Chuck77474]

Very disappointing article. I quit smoking 15 years ago using the patches. It wasn't always easy but MUCH easier than quitting without them. Don't short change their value because some people relapse.

[bcs89]

what the cdc won't tell you is that almost all of the harm from smoking comes from heart disease and emphysema, and that most of the risks can be eliminated by chewing tobacco instead of smoking it. and chewing is addictive all by itself (in the best sense of the word) and will make you never want to smoke again. not an ideal solution, but it would save lives if these guys would stop letting the perfect be the enemy of the good!

[bileven]

What they don't tell people is that carbon monoxide from the burning of petroleum causes 100 times more damage to the lungs.

Ever wonder why the Health Depts don't just make tobacco illegal? Well known fact, there is a high rate of lung cancer in areas with high pollution, regardless of rate of smokers. Yet in areas of the world where tobacco use is still the norm, but lower vehicle use and other pollutants, the cancer rate is much lower.

[bcs89]

what the cdc won't tell you is that almost all of the harm from smoking comes from heart disease and emphysema, and that most of the risks can be eliminated by chewing tobacco instead of smoking it. and chewing is addictive all by itself (in the best sense of the word) and will make you never want to smoke again. not an ideal solution, but it would save lives if these guys would stop letting the perfect be the enemy of the good!

[starving1968-3]

I used the patches to quit in Feb 2002 and they worked awesome.

[csrossky]

I quit smoking 10 1/2 years ago using wellbutrin and the nicotine patches. I tried a couple of times before that using nothing. I didn't stay quit. Enough said!