Transdermal nicotine: The long and the short of it

Cigarette smokers with a mean history of 35 smoking years (N=98) were rando mly assigned to receive either 3 weeks or 12 weeks of transdermal nicotine treatment combined with a 5-session behavioral management program. Particip ants were followed for 20 weeks. At the conclusion of the study, 26% of the 3-week participants and 29% of the 12-week participants were abstinent. Th e number of abstinent participants and duration of abstinence were not sign ificantly different between the 2 groups, although statistical power constr aints do not rule out the possibility of small undetected differences in ou tcome. Most participants (68%) smoked at least once during their nicotine p atch regimen. Smoking on the patch was associated with poor outcome. Those who smoked while using the patch reported more restlessness and cigarette c ravings and lower confidence and intention to quit smoking than did partici pants who did not smoke during the drug regimen.