Nicotine patches and the subjective effects of cigarette smoking: a pilot study.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide).

Twelve smokers (aged 19 to 55 years, Fagerström test score 3 to 10) participated in a double-blind, placebo controlled, counterbalanced study to determine the extent to which subjective effects of smoking are altered by nicotine delivered by transdermal patches.

Nicotine-mediated objective and subjective effects were measured at baseline, and after smoking a regular and a low yield cigarette at four different study sessions.

Why It Was Studied

Twenty-five per cent of the North American population smoke cigarettes regularly.

Nonsmoking compliance was determined by measuring expired air carbon monoxide and saliva cotinine concentrations.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Subjective effects were assessed using validated computerized questionnaires such as the Profile of Mood States and Visual Analogue Scales.

How the Study Was Run

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

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

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

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) could be set against what happens without it.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) study would be practical.

What Was Measured

Nonsmoking compliance was determined by measuring expired air carbon monoxide and saliva cotinine concentrations.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Administration, Cutaneous, Blood Pressure, Carbon Monoxide, Cotinine, Heart Rate, Nicotine and Pilot Projects.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

The publication is from 2002 (The Canadian journal of clinical pharmacology = Journal canadien de pharmacologie clinique), a journal based in Canada.

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