Nicotine helps COPD patients quit smoking

Nicotine replacement therapy enables a significant number of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to stop smoking. Nicotine replacement therapy works in COPD, and in smokers of fewer than 10 cigarettes per day. COPD is a group of serious lung diseases that include emphysema and chronic bronchitis and is primarily caused by smoking. Researchers from the Gentofte Hospital, Denmark, compared the efficacy of nicotine replacement combined with high- or low-behavioural support for smoking cessation in 370 patients with COPD who smoked an average of about 19 cigarettes daily. It was found the use of under-the-tongue nicotine tablets was associated with an approximate doubling of abstinence rates compared with placebo at 6 (23 percent versus 10 percent) and 12 months (17 percent versus 10 percent), respectively. However, the intensity of behavioural support did not significantly influence the outcomes. Neither nicotine replacement nor behavioural support significantly influenced smoking reduction among patients who continued to smoke after 6 or 12 months. Smoking cessation was associated with a significant increase in lung function, whereas lung function remained stable among those who reduced their smoking but deteriorated among those who continued smoking at their baseline rate. Adverse events occurred at similar rates in the nicotine and placebo groups and in the high- and low-behavioural support groups. It is important to get COPD patients to quit smoking, and nicotine replacement therapy may be helpful in getting them off the habit.