A randomized, controlled trial to assess the efficacy and safety of a transdermal delivery system of nicotine/mecamylamine in cigarette smokers.

What Was Tested

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

Who Took Part

The study group was 540 subjects.

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

A total of 540 subjects were enrolled into the study-135 from each of four sites; 180 patients in each of three treatment arms.

Treatment was administered for the first 6 weeks of the 8-week study.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and parallel-group 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 Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) group and the comparison group ran side by side rather than switching.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Administration, Cutaneous, Drug Administration Routes, Drug Hypersensitivity, Mecamylamine, Nicotine, Nicotinic Antagonists and Safety.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and parallel-group study of Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) in 540 subjects.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

Results are reported in around 4 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2007 (Addiction (Abingdon, England)), a journal based in England.

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