Labetalol treatment enhances the attenuation of tobacco withdrawal symptoms by nicotine in abstinent smokers.

What Was Tested

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

The noradrenergic system may mediate some of the acute physiological effects of nicotine and nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

This study examined the effects of labetalol, an alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptor blocker, on acute physiological and subjective effects of intravenous nicotine and on tobacco withdrawal symptoms.

Who Took Part

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

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.

Neither the participants 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.

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.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists, Ganglionic Stimulants, Heart Rate, Labetalol, Nicotine, Smoking Cessation and Substance Withdrawal Syndrome.

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 2003 (Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco), a journal based in England.

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