A controlled trial of sustained-release bupropion, a nicotine patch, or both for smoking cessation

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide), published as a randomized controlled trial.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 244 subjects taking part.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, both men and women.

Use of nicotine-replacement therapies and the antidepressant bupropion helps people stop smoking.

The researchers conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled comparison of sustained-release bupropion (244 subjects), a nicotine patch (244 subjects), bupropion and a nicotine patch (245 subjects), and placebo (160 subjects) for smoking cessation.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the subjects nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide), so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) group a baseline to be compared against.

Smokers with clinical depression were excluded.

The target day for quitting smoking was usually day 8.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Administration, Cutaneous, Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation, Bupropion, Nicotine, Smoking Cessation, Substance Withdrawal Syndrome and Weight Gain.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) in 244 subjects.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 8 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 1999 (The New England journal of medicine), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) compound page, all human trials.