Tobacco.org

Nicotine gum before quitting smoking not helpful  

Starting nicotine gum, while reducing the number of cigarettes smoked by half at 4 weeks before a target date for quitting smoking is no more effective than beginning nicotine replacement on the quit date without tapering off beforehand, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Jean-Francois Etter, of the University of Geneva, Switzerland and colleagues studied 314 adults who smoked at least 15 cigarettes per day (an average of 23.7 cigarettes per day).

About half of the subjects were assigned to use nicotine polacrilex gum (Nicorette) 4 weeks before and 8 weeks after their target quit date and to reduce the number of cigarettes they smoked by half before the quit date. The other subjects were assigned to use the same nicotine gum for 8 weeks beginning on their quit date and instructed to quit smoking abruptly.

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