Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2000 Aug 5;321(7257):329-33.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.321.7257.329.

Smoking reduction with oral nicotine inhalers: double blind, randomised clinical trial of efficacy and safety

C T Bolliger  1 , J P Zellweger, T Danielsson, X van Biljon, A Robidou, A Westin, A P Perruchoud, U Säwe
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Smoking reduction with oral nicotine inhalers: double blind, randomised clinical trial of efficacy and safety

C T Bolliger et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether use of an oral nicotine inhaler can result in long term reduction in smoking and whether concomitant use of nicotine replacement and smoking is safe.

Design: Double blind, randomised, placebo controlled trial. Four month trial with a two year follow up.

Setting: Two university hospital pulmonary clinics in Switzerland.

Participants: 400 healthy volunteers, recruited through newspaper advertisements, willing to reduce their smoking but unable or unwilling to stop smoking immediately.

Intervention: Active or placebo inhaler as needed for up to 18 months, with participants encouraged to limit their smoking as much as possible.

Main outcome measures: Number of cigarettes smoked per day from week six to end point. Decrease verified by a measurement of exhaled carbon monoxide at each time point compared with measurement at baseline.

Results: At four months sustained reduction of smoking was achieved in 52 (26%) participants in the active group and 18 (9%) in the placebo group (P<0.001; Fisher's test). Corresponding figures after two years were 19 (9.5%) and 6 (3.0%) (P=0.012).

Conclusion: Nicotine inhalers effectively and safely achieved sustained reduction in smoking over 24 months. Reduction with or without nicotine substitution may be a feasible first step towards smoking cessation in people not able or not willing to stop abruptly.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure
Figure
Progress of participants in trial of oral nicotine therapy as aid for reduction in cigarette smoking
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Doll R, Peto R, Wheatley K, Gray R, Sutherland I. Mortality in relation to smoking: 40 years' observation on male British doctors. BMJ. 1994;309:901–911. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Smoking Cessation Clinical Practice Guideline Panel and Staff. The agency for health care policy and research: smoking cessation clinical practice guideline. JAMA. 1996;275:1270–1280. - PubMed
    1. Benowitz NL. Pharmacology of nicotine: addiction and therapeutics. Ann Rev Pharmacol Toxicol. 1996;36:597–613. - PubMed
    1. Silagy C, Mant D, Fowler G, Lancaster T Cochrane Collaboration, editors. Cochrane Library. Issue 3. Oxford: Update Software; 1999. Nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation.
    1. Paoletti P, Fornai E, Maggiorelli F, Puntoni R, Viegi G, Carrozzi L, et al. Importance of baseline cotinine plasma values in smoking cessation: results from a double-blind study with nicotine patch. Eur Respir J. 1996;9:643–651. - PubMed

Publication types