SMOKING ADDICTION TREATMENT WITH NICOTINE CHEWING GUM IN PRIMARY HEALTH-CARE - DOUBLE-BLIND-STUDY

Basis. Study of the efficacy of nicotine chewing gum in the treatment of smoking addiction in primary health care. Methods. Three interventi ons groups are compared. Active group (37): treated with group psychot herapy and nicotine chewing gum; Placebo group (38): Treated exactly a s first group, but with placebo chewing gum, and Outpatient Group (31) : Individual psychotherapy in an outpatient basis, with nicotine chewi ng gum.Results. Comparison of results, one year after intervention, be tween active group (35.1% success) and placebo group (13.2% success) s howed the existence of statistically significant differences (p<0.03). Outpatient group yielded 25.8% success rate, without finding any stat istically significant differences in comparison with the active group. Conclusions. Nicotine chewing gum can be an effective support in the treatment of smoking addiction, in primary health care, in certain smo kers, assuming that this treatment is accompanied with individual or g roup psychotherapy follow up, which reinforces the behavior and preven ts relapses.