Clinical Conversations

February 29th, 2012

Podcast 148: Smoking cessation during pregnancy is probably more effective with behavioral approaches than with relying on nicotine replacement

In the largest study of its kind, UK researchers find that helping pregnant women to quit smoking until at least delivery isn’t helped much by nicotine replacement therapy. The primary outcome, self-reported cessation lasting between the start of therapy and delivery, differed little between the active treatment group and those randomized to placebo (9% versus 8%). In […]

---

July 8th, 2011

Podcast 125: The smoking-cessation drug varenicline poses some difficult tradeoffs.

There is a new meta-analysis from the Canadian Medical Association Journal that finds increased risks among smokers trying to quit and taking varenicline (Chantix). Among smokers with stable cardiovascular disease, the number needed to treat to cause an adverse cardiovascular event is about 30, yet the number needed to treat to achieve smoking cessation is 10. […]

---