Smokers who wore nicotine patches for six months instead of the recommended two were more likely to quit smoking and had an easier time recovering from an occasional slip, says a research.
But the effect appeared to last only as long as the treatment, suggesting that smokers may need longer-term or even chronic treatment to stay smoke-free. “This suggests that we may need to reconsider our guidelines about the length of treatment and consider, at least for some smokers, longer-term therapy,” said Caryn Lerman of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, whose study appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Lerman said the team did the study because of the growing recognition that nicotine dependence is a condition characterized by many relapses.
Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes, emphysema and other diseases. It is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing an estimated 443,000 people each according to year, according to the CDC.
Via Reuters
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