A study published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research found that 32% of smokers using a nicotine MDI plus a nicotine patch quit for 6 months compared to 18% of smokers using a placebo MDI and a nicotine patch. The study enrolled 502 adults who smoked at least 9 cigarettes per day.
According to the authors, “The present trial demonstrates that a simple nonproprietary nicotine inhaler, using relatively inexpensive standard technology, increases smoking cessation rates over and above nicotine patch therapy, and could usefully enhance nicotine replacement in smoking cessation treatment.”
Lead author Julian Crane of the University of Otago and Director of the Wellington Asthma Research Group, said, “There is considerable debate about whether inhaled nicotine is helpful for people who wish to stop smoking. This is the first study to show that inhaled nicotine from a metered dose inhaler in the context of a smoker wanting to stop doubles their chances of quitting.”
Crane noted that “unlike electronic cigarettes, the inhaler has no physical associations to smoking itself” and added that “It also has benefits in that it is much less likely to be used inappropriately to administer other drugs given that it is a completely sealed unit.”
Read the Nicotine and Tobacco Research abstract.
Read the University of Otago press release.
