Smoking Cessation In Black Adults Is Not Boosted By Pharmacotherapy Adaptation

(CTN News) – According to a study published online June 20 in the Smoking Journal of the American Medical Association’s Network Open journal, adaptation to varenicline and/or bupropion plus nicotine patch (NP), compared to NP monotherapy, does not improve abstinence rates in Black adults who Smoking.

Using a randomized clinical trial in which adapted therapy (ADT) or enhanced usual care (UC) were applied to Black adults who Smoking daily, Nicole L. Nollen, Ph.D., from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, and colleagues examined the efficacy of multiple smoking cessation pharmacotherapy adaptations based on treatment response.

After 18 weeks of pharmacotherapy, both groups were followed up for 26 weeks to determine whether they responded to the treatment.

There were 196 individuals in the ADT group who received a NP and up to two pharmacotherapy adaptations (varenicline at week two and bupropion at week six, if needed), and 196 individuals in the UC group who received a NP throughout the program.

At 12, 18, and 26 weeks, the researchers were unable to detect any significant differences between the treatment groups in Smoking terms of abstinence verified over seven days.

In the ADT program, 81.8% of the participants who received pharmacotherapy adaptations at week 12 were abstinent, out of the 71.8 percent who didn’t.

The odds of being abstinent at week 12 were significantly higher when individuals who had responded well to treatment and had abstinence verified by carbon monoxide at week two were controlled for treatment (28.7 versus 7.8 percent; odds ratio, 4.6), compared to those who had not responded well to treatment.

The authors conclude that, “the results highlight the importance of finding effective treatments for those at high risk for quitting Smoking failure as well as those who are disproportionately impacted by tobacco-related diseases,” they write.

There was a disclosure of financial ties between several authors and the industry.

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