THE SHORT-TERM EFFECT OF NICOTINE CHEWING GUM IN PATIENTS WITH PARKINSONS-DISEASE

Because of the inverse association of cigarette smoking with the risk of Parkinson's disease, we performed a short-term, double-blind, rando mized controlled trial of nicotine polacrilex resin gum in patients wi th this disease. Forty-eight subjects were randomly assigned to chew e ither nicotine gum or placebo gum three times at 2-h intervals, with e valuation of symptoms before and after the trial. The nicotine gum was reasonably well tolerated, but there were no substantial differences in Parkinson's disease symptoms between the two treatment groups.