At least three of the most common treatments used to help quit smoking do not increase the risk of psychiatric conditions, new study suggests.
Smoking causes serious health problems that medications which help control it have become necessary. However, there has been a mounting concern on the adverse effects of smoking cessation drugs like varenicline, nicotine patches, and bupropion to mental health, prompting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to request for a study.
"Clinical guidelines recommend that the most effective way to give up smoking is smoking cessation medication and counseling. However, smokers do not use these services enough, in part due to concerns that the medications may not be safe," expressed Robert Anthenelli, professor of the University of California, San Diego.
Supported by GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, makers of some of these drugs, the study published in the Lancet on April 22 shows that the drugs do not cause an increased risk of mental disorders like depression and anxiety and that they are effective in helping smokers abstain.
The Study
More than 8,000 people between the ages of 18 and 75 years old participated in the double-blind randomized clinical trial between Nov. 30, 2011, and Jan. 13, 2015. These participants smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day but had the intention to quit.
About 50 percent of the participants were diagnosed with mental condition either previously or currently in which half had received treatment. The rest didn't have any mental disorder.
Some of the participants received 21 milligrams per day (with taper) of nicotine patch, 150 milligrams of bupropion twice a day, 1 milligram of varenicline twice a day, while the rest received a placebo. The treatment proceeded for 12 weeks with another 12 weeks of non-treatment follow-up. Their mental health conditions were also assessed during and after the treatment.
Results
The results suggest that the risk of adverse mental events didn't increase among smokers with no mental condition across all types of smoking cessation drugs and the placebo. For example, the incidence is around 1.3 percent for those under varenicline, 2.5 percent with nicotine patch, 2.2 percent with bupropion and 2.4 percent in the placebo.
Further, while these adverse events were more frequently reported among smokers who had a psychiatric condition, they are "independent of the medication used," said Laurie Zawertailo, addiction expert and author of the study's editorial.
The results tend to corroborate those of previous studies, including one that shows the drugs do not also boost the risk of heart attacks.
When it comes to abstinence rate, those with mental conditions are less likely to be abstinent, but the study also reveals that among all the treatment drugs, veranicline is the most effective among them with 21.8 percent participants abstaining from smoking. The remaining options, nevertheless, still work better than the placebo.
Despite these results, the researchers stress that the study does have limitations. For example, it doesn't say whether the same thing can be expected among smokers with an untreated mental illness.
