Pharmacy Daily | Fifty years of tobacco

It has been fifty years since Dr Luther Terry delivered the first Surgeon General’s Report outlining the links between tobacco use, lung cancer and death and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has released a number of papers on this topic. A clinical evidence synopsis ‘Pharmacological Treatments for Smoking Cessation’ found that among the three first-line smoking cessation treatments, higher rates of cessation were associated with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) at 17.6% and bupropion at 19.1% compared with placebo at 10.6%. Varenicline and combination NRT (for instance a patch plus inhaler) were most effective at 27.6% and 31.5% respectively. ‘Maintenance Treatment with Varenicline for Smoking Cessation in Patients with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder’ said it was estimated that more than half of those with serious mental illness smoked regularly and that while standard courses of pharmacotherapeutic cessation aids helped short term abstinence, most who achieved it rapidly relapsed after stopping the courses. The paper looked at whether maintenance pharmacotherapy would achieve higher rates of prolonged tobacco abstinence among smokers diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. “Among smokers with serious mental illness who attained initial abstinence with standard treatment, maintenance pharmacotherapy with varenicline and cognitive behavioural therapy improved prolonged tobacco abstinence rates compared with cognitive behavioral therapy alone after 1 year of treatment and at 6 months after treatment discontinuation. For more CLICK HERE.

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