Tobacco.org

No Link Between Suicide and Stop-Smoking Drugs 

Action Points

* Explain to interested patients that varenicline (Chantix) and bupropion (Zyban) were associated with an increased risk of self-harm compared with nicotine replacement products.

* Note, however, that the confidence intervals were wide and straddled 1.00, leaving the researchers to conclude there was "no clear evidence" of a relationship between the drugs and suicide.

Contrary to information that led the FDA and other regulatory agencies to release warnings about varenicline (Chantix), a new study has found "no clear evidence" of a relationship between the risk of suicide and the smoking-cessation drug.

Both varenicline and bupropion (Zyban), another drug used in smoking cessation programs, were associated with a 12% and 17% increased risk, respectively, of self-harm compared with people who used a nicotine replacement product, but the confidence intervals were wide and straddled 1.00, David Gunnell, PhD, of the University of Bristol in the U.K., and colleagues reported online in British Medical Journal.

The limited study power "means we cannot rule out either a halving or a twofold increase in risk," the researchers said.

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