| Nicotine patches may not help quit smoking but could protect mental functioning in old age |
|
Nicotine patches were approved for use in the 1990s due to their effectiveness being demonstrated in randomised clinical trials. These are studies done in a controlled setting where people are randomly assigned to use real nicotine patches or fake placebo ones and scientists measure the difference between the two groups. This new paper is based on a prospective cohort study which means it followed a group of people who were trying to give up smoking over a period of years. The researchers found that whether or not the subjects had chosen to use nicotine patches about a third of them relapsed to smoking during the study. These results suggest that using public funds to pay for products such as nicotine patches might be of questionable value. In an unrelated study scientists tested the effect of nicotine patches on elderly non smokers with mild cognitive impairment. They found that the subjects scored higher on some memory tests, but evaluations by doctors showed little improvement. The researchers found little evidence of side effects from using the patches over a six months period. This was only a small pilot study so the results are not conclusive, but it paves the way for larger trials. Nicotine patches and quitting: The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9002252/Nicotine-patches-no-better-than-will-power-to-quit-smoking.html Tobacco Control (Journal paper): http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2012/01/03/tobaccocontrol-2011-050129.abstract Nicotine patches and cognitive impairment: Behind The Headlines: http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/01January/Pages/nicotine-replacement-patches-for-dementia-alzheimers.aspx Neurology (Journal paper): http://www.neurology.org/content/78/2/91.abstract |