Smoking Cessation

Counseling efforts begin with the 5 A’s:

For smokers willing to quit, clinicians should work with the patient to establish a quit date, preferably within 2 weeks, and stress that total abstinence is better than reduction. Past quitting experiences can be reviewed to identify what helped and what did not, and smoking triggers or challenges to quitting should be planned for in advance. For example, alcohol use is associated with relapse, so alcohol restriction or abstinence should be discussed. In addition, quitting is more difficult when others smoke in the home; spouses and housemates who also smoke should be encouraged to smoke outside of the home or to quit all together. Clinicians should reinforce their availability and assistance in support of the quit attempt.

In addition to the brief counseling provided by the smoker’s clinician, counseling programs can help. They usually use cognitive-behavioral techniques and are offered by various health programs. Success rates are higher than with self-help programs. All states in the US have telephone quit lines that can provide counseling support (and sometimes nicotine replacement therapy) to smokers trying to quit. People can call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) toll-free anywhere in the US. Quit lines appear to be at least as effective as in-person counseling. The National Cancer Institute's smokefree.gov web site provides information, a tailored quit plan, and text-based support.

Effective and safe drugs for smoking cessation include varenicline, bupropion SR, and 5 types of nicotine replacement therapy (in the form of gum, lozenge, patch, inhaler, and nasal spray—see the table Drugs for Smoking Cessation Drugs for Smoking Cessation ). Bupropion’s mechanism of action is to increase the brain's release of norepinephrine and dopamine. Varenicline works at the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (the alpha-4 beta-2 subunit), where it acts as a partial agonist, having some nicotinic effects, and as a partial antagonist, blocking the effects of nicotine. The effect of varenicline is to mitigate nicotine withdrawal symptoms and decrease the pleasurable effects of smoking if the patient has a lapse. Varenicline is the most effective monotherapy available for smoking cessation.

Combinations of different nicotine replacement products are more effective than single products and are comparable in efficacy to varenicline. For example, combining the nicotine patch with a shorter-acting nicotine replacement drug (eg, lozenge, gum, nasal spray, inhaler) is more effective than monotherapy. When used in combination, the patch helps maintain continuous levels of nicotine, and use of gum, lozenge, inhaler, or nasal spray enables the patient to rapidly increase nicotine levels in response to immediate cravings. Nicotine replacement therapy is dosed at about 1 mg of nicotine replacement per cigarette smoked per day. Patients using the nicotine patch should continue wearing the patch even if they have a lapse and smoke.

Smokers may worry that they may remain dependent on nicotine after using nicotine products for smoking cessation; however, such dependence rarely persists. An important point is that the addiction potential of a drug is related to its speed of delivery to the brain. Because none of the nicotine replacement products deliver nicotine to the brain anywhere close to the speed that smoking does (8 to 10 seconds), the replacement products are less addictive. Drug choice is guided by the clinician’s familiarity with the drug, the smoker's preference and previous experience (positive or negative), and contraindications.

Despite their proven efficacy, smoking cessation drugs are used by < 25% of smokers attempting to quit. Reasons for smokers not using cessation drugs in a quit attempt include low rates of insurance coverage, concerns about adverse effects and the safety of simultaneous smoking and nicotine replacement, and patient discouragement because of past unsuccessful quit attempts.

Therapies under investigation for smoking cessation include the drugs cytisine, bromocriptine, and topiramate. Vaccine therapy has been studied and found to be ineffective.

Contraindications to bupropion include a history of seizures, an eating disorder, and monoamine oxidase inhibitor use within 2 weeks.

Postmarketing reports of serious or clinically significant neuropsychiatric adverse events when taking bupropion SR or varenicline have included changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide, and completed suicide. Clinicians should observe patients attempting to quit smoking with varenicline or bupropion SR for the occurrence of such symptoms and advise them to stop taking varenicline or bupropion SR and contact a healthcare provider immediately if they experience such adverse events. If treatment is stopped due to neuropsychiatric symptoms, patients should be monitored until the symptoms resolve. Most experts nonetheless recommend varenicline for most smokers because the risks of smoking substantially exceed the risks of taking the drug. However, it would be reasonable to avoid varenicline in smokers with active suicidal risk Etiology Suicide is death caused by an intentional act of self-harm that is designed to be lethal. Suicidal behavior encompasses a spectrum of behavior from suicide attempt and preparatory behaviors... read more .

Some patients taking varenicline report increased effects of alcohol. Instruct patients to reduce the amount of alcohol they consume until they know whether varenicline affects them.

Nicotine replacement should be used cautiously in smokers with certain cardiovascular risks (those within 2 weeks of a myocardial infarction Acute Myocardial Infarction (MI) Acute myocardial infarction is myocardial necrosis resulting from acute obstruction of a coronary artery. Symptoms include chest discomfort with or without dyspnea, nausea, and/or diaphoresis... read more , with serious arrhythmias Overview of Arrhythmias The normal heart beats in a regular, coordinated way because electrical impulses generated and spread by myocytes with unique electrical properties trigger a sequence of organized myocardial... read more , or with serious angina Angina Pectoris Angina pectoris is a clinical syndrome of precordial discomfort or pressure due to transient myocardial ischemia without infarction. It is typically precipitated by exertion or psychologic stress... read more ); however, most data suggest that such use is safe. Nicotine gum is contraindicated in smokers with temporomandibular joint syndrome Overview of Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) The term temporomandibular disorders is an umbrella term for a group of musculoskeletal and neuromuscular conditions that involve the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), the masticatory muscles,... read more , and nicotine patches are contraindicated in smokers with severe topical sensitization.

Because of safety concerns, inadequate efficacy data, or both, cessation drugs are not recommended for the following:

E-cigarettes are another form of nicotine delivery, and some devices are believed to deliver nicotine to the brain as quickly as combusted cigarettes.

Some clinicians suggest that e-cigarettes be considered for use in smoking cessation as another type of nicotine-replacement product. The National Academies of Sciences, however, concluded there is insufficient evidence on the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as cessation devices. An additional concern is that, because nicotine inhaled from some e-cigarette devices is delivered to the brain as rapidly as nicotine from smoked cigarettes, patients might remain similarly addicted to e-cigarettes though with less harmful exposures than are associated with combusted cigarettes. Dual use (continued use of combustibles while using e-cigarettes) also is common and the health benefits of e-cigarettes in the context of dual use are unproven. In contrast, US Food and Drug Administration-approved nicotine replacement therapies have demonstrated effectiveness in helping smokers quit with several additional benefits:

If patients have been unsuccessful with evidence-based approaches to quitting smoking in the recent past and are intent on trying e-cigarettes, clinicians ought to provide support and encourage their efforts with a focus on switching completely from combustible to electronic cigarettes. (See also information about e-cigarettes from the The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [Health and Medicine Division]: Public health consequences of e-cigarettes.)

The counseling approach for children is similar to that for adults; however, cessation drugs are not recommended for smokers under the age of 18. (See also Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Youth Tobacco Prevention.)

Children should be screened for tobacco use by age 10. Parents should be advised to maintain smoke-free households and to communicate the expectation to their children that the children will remain nonsmokers. Movies and youth video games that incorporate smoking should be avoided.

For children who smoke, cognitive-behavioral therapy that involves establishing awareness of tobacco use, providing motivations to quit, preparing to quit, and providing strategies to maintain abstinence after cessation are effective in treating nicotine dependence.

Cessation counseling for smokeless tobacco users, as for cigarette smokers, has been shown to be effective. However, drugs have not proved effective among smokeless tobacco users.

Effectiveness of cessation treatments for pipe and cigar smokers is not well documented. Also, cessation may be affected by whether cigarettes are smoked concurrently and whether smokers inhale.