For Smokers With Schizophrenia, Varenicline Found Most Effective at Achieving Abstinence

Smokers with schizophrenia who received pharmacotherapeutic smoking cessation aids, especially the medication varenicline, had significantly higher abstinence rates compared with smokers with schizophrenia who received a placebo, according to astudy published inPsychiatric Services.“Despite evidence of the safety and efficacy of first-line pharmacotherapeutic cessation aids in this population, clinicians report negative attitudes toward providing smoking cessation treatment for smokers with schizophrenia, and pharmacotherapy—particularly non-nicotine pharmacotherapy—is p articularly underutilized,” wrote A. Eden Evins, M.D., M.P.H., of Massachusetts General Hospital and colleagues.Evins and colleagues analyzed data on abstinence rates and neuropsychiatric adverse events (NPSAEs) that were collected as part of the Evaluating Adverse Events in a Global Smoking Cessation Study (EAGLES). EAGLES was conducted from November 2011 to January 2015 with participants aged 18 to 75 who smoked 10 or more cigarettes a day. There were 390 participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (including schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders) and 4,028 without a psychiatric illness (the control group).Participants were randomly assigned to receive 1 mg varenicline twice daily, 150 mg buproprion sustained-release twice daily, 21 mg of a nicotine replacement therapy patch daily, or a placebo for 12 weeks. Participants set a quit date for one week after random assignment, and study vi...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: abstinence buproprion nicotine replacement therapy Psychiatric Services schizophrenia smoking tobacco varenicline Source Type: research