Smokers deprived of cigarettes for 72 h: effect of nicotine patches on craving and withdrawal.

What Was Tested

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

This study investigated craving and withdrawal symptoms over a 72-h period of abstinence from cigarettes.

Why It Was Studied

Research on the effects of nicotine abstinence and nicotine replacement has not provided consistent information about the impact of replacement therapies on tobacco withdrawal and craving.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, both men and women.

Twenty-four healthy volunteers, not intending to quit smoking, were housed in an experimental unit during three 72-h conditions, consisting of either free smoking, enforced smoking cessation with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) patches, or enforced smoking cessation with placebo patches.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Because people in this Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

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

In the crossover set-up each of the participants took both Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

The conditions were adhered to using a randomized crossover design, each separated by at least 10 days of washout.

Self-reported cigarette craving and withdrawal were assessed using multi-item scales at fixed intervals over each condition period.

Urinary and plasma cortisol levels were also assayed at fixed intervals over each period.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Administration, Cutaneous, Blood Pressure, Carbon Monoxide, Cotinine, Heart Rate, Hydrocortisone and Nicotine.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 7 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2002 (Psychopharmacology), a journal based in Germany.

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