Chantix Isn’t More Efficient Than a Nicotine Patch

According to a study that was published in January’s edition of JAMA, Chantix isn’t more efficient than a nicotine patch. It seems that the varenicline anti-smoking pill is as efficient as a patch, but it has some more side effects than the sticky cigarettes replacement.

The study that took place at the Medicine School of the Wisconsin University concluded that Chantix isn’t more efficient than a nicotine patch. Dr. Timothy Baker and his team studied a total of 1,086 individuals that were smokers. The average age of the participants in the study was 48. Out of the total 1,086, 52 percent were women and 67 percent were white.

The volunteers were divided into three groups that were treated with different drugs for smoking cessation for a period of twelve weeks. The first group was given only a nicotine patch, the second a combination between Chantix and a nicotine patch or Chantix alone, and the third was treated with lozenge (a placebo sweet pill).

According to the results, the first group had a rate of success of 22.8 percent (55 out of 241 individuals managed to quit smoking using the nicotine patches), the group that received the combination between the varenicline-based drug and nicotine patches was successful at a rate of 26.8 percent (113 out of 421 patients quit smoking) and the group that was treated only with Chantix had very similar results, 23.6 percent (100 out of 424 were aided by the nicotinic receptor partial agonist).

The totals may be similar, but the effects of the drugs were rather different from the patients. It seems that those patients who received Chantix, or the combination between Chantix and the nicotine patch presented themselves with significantly lower cravings.

But the varenicline-treated volunteers experienced more side effects. According to the study published by Dr. Baker in JAMA journal, there was a higher incidence of certain adverse effects in patients that were treated with Chantix. The patients complained of insomnia, vivid dreams, constipation and nausea.

The fact that the three groups scored the same levels of individuals that quit smoking by using the treatments implies that Chantix isn’t more efficient than a nicotine patch. The findings in the study remain consistent with what previous researchers have discovered about the nicotine addiction treatments.

The volunteers for the study were people that smoked an average of 18 cigarettes a day. Those who did not manage to quit did declare that they lowered the average number of cigarettes smoked in a day from 18 to 12.

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