Nicotine therapy doesn't help people quit smoking

A US study has found that gums, patches and nasal sprays which supply smokers with nicotine don't help people quit cigarettes over the long term any better than going it alone.

The research by the Harvard University School of Public Health over three periods: 2001-2002, 2003-2004 and 2005-2006; followed 787 adults in the state of Massachusetts who had recently quit smoking, and found that over time, about one-third relapsed after nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) as without.

Not only were relapse rates about the same among those who used NRT and those who did not, the study found that heavily dependent smokers who took NRT without professional therapy were twice as likely to relapse as those who did not use NRT.

"What this study shows is the need for the Food and Drug Administration ... to approve only medications that have been proven to be effective in helping smokers quit in the long-term and to lower nicotine in order to reduce the addictiveness of cigarettes," said co-author Gregory Connolly, director of Harvard's Center for Global Tobacco Control.

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