A comparison of nicotine delivery systems in a multimodality smoking cessation program

Cigarette smoking remains the single most preventable cause of death in the United States. Nurses can be instrumental in assisting patients in quitting. A prospective quasi-experimental design was employed to investigate the differences in quit rates, adverse drug reactions, time to relapse, and secondary factors that contribute to smoking cessation in two groups of patients who attended a group program and used either a nicotine patch or nicotine gum. Although there were no significant differences in quit rates at one year, the patch group showed a significant increase in short-term quit rates and a decrease in adverse reactions as well as a longer time to relapse. Older patients demonstrated a longer time to relapse while a high degree of nicotine dependency was correlated with a shorter time to relapse.