THE SAFETY, TOLERABILITY AND EFFICACY OF TRANSDERMAL NICOTINE (NICOTINELL TTS) IN INITIALLY HOSPITALIZED-PATIENTS

Aim. We studied a transdermal nicotine system with minimal behavioural intervention in hospitalised patients to assess patient acceptability , safety and efficacy. Method. In an open noncomparative study, 80 smo king patients (42 men and 38 women) were enrolled. They received 24-ho ur nicotine patches and simple support for 12 weeks and were followed for up to 26 weeks. Smoking was assessed by interview, expired air car bon monoxide and blood cotinine. Results. Side effects included itch a nd local erythema (4), insomnia (7), abnormal taste (3). Two subjects withdrew from the study because of side effects. At 12 weeks 17 were n onsmokers. At 26 weeks 19 of 80 were nonsmokers and a further 14 had r educed their intake significantly. Conclusions. The nicotine skin patc h proved to be safe and well tolerated. Efficacy was comparable to con trolled trials of transdermal nicotine patches.