Effectiveness of Stop-Smoking Medications: Findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC)
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Kaszal KA, Hyland AJ, Borland R, McNeill AD, Bansal-Travers M, Fix BV, Hammond D, Fong GT, Cummings KM. Addiction 2012.
This study analyzed data from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Survey (ITC-4) to assess the population effectiveness of stop-smoking medications while accounting for potential recall bias by controlling for quit attempt recency. Respondents who participated in 2006 or later were included in the analysis. Results showed that among participants who recalled making a quit attempt within one month of the study interview, those who reported using varenicline, bupropion, or nicotine patch were more likely to report six-month continuous abstinence compared to those who quit without using medication. Use of oral NRT did not seem to impact quitting success. Not using medication to quit was associated with being younger, belonging to racial/ethnic minority groups, having lower incomes, and believing that medications do not make quitting easier. The authors conclude that previous populations studies that failed to find an effect of use of medication on quitting failed to adequately control for important sources of bias.
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