Lack of Efficacy of Transdermal Nicotine in Smoking Cessation

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The Transdermal Nicotine in Cardiac Patients Study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial designed to test the safety and efficacy of transdermal nicotine as an aid in the cessation of smoking in patients with at least one type of major cardiovascular disease. A total of 584 outpatients receiving care from 10 Veterans Affairs medical centers participated in the trial. The initial report of this trial described the safety of the therapy in this high-risk outpatient population; however, 24 weeks after randomization, only 14 percent of the subjects in the nicotine-treatment group and 11 percent of those in the placebo group were abstinent from smoking (P=0.67), suggesting that the efficacy of the therapy was limited.1