Tuberc Respir Dis.  2015 Apr;78(2):92-98. 10.4046/trd.2015.78.2.92.

Seven-Day Continuous Abstinence Rate from Smoking at 1, 2, or 3 Years after the Use of Varenicline

• Kim JS
• Jang JY
• Park EH
• Lee JY
• Gu KM
• Jung JW
• Choi JC
• Shin JW
• Park IW
• Choi BW
• Kim JY

• KMID: 2320600
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2015.78.2.92

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Varenicline, a selective partial agonist/antagonist of the alpha4beta2 nicotinic receptor, has proven effectiveness for smoking cessation by several randomized, controlled trials. Because few studies have evaluated the long-term efficacy of varenicline, we tried to evaluate the smoking status of varenicline users up to 3 years after the initial prescription of the drug.
METHODS
We interviewed varenicline users who were prescribed the drug from June 2007 to May 2010 by telephone, from June 2010 to May 2011.
RESULTS
One-hundred and thirty-three of 250 varenicline users (53.2%) were available for the survey. Seven-day continuous abstinence from smoking was adhered to by 17 of 39 respondents (43.6%) at 1 year, and 11 of 36 (30.6%) and 19 of 58 (32.8%) at 2 and 3 years since the first use of varenicline, respectively. Compared to current smokers, successful quitters were older (55.0 years vs. 49.9 years, p=0.01), had better compliance to the 12-week course (27.7 vs. 9.3%, p=0.01), and had taken varenicline longer (10.1 vs. 5.9 weeks, p=0.01). Fifty-four of 71 current smokers (76.1%) were willing to stop smoking in the near future. The preferred ways to cease smoking were will-power (48.1%), varenicline (25.9%), nicotine replacement therapy (11.1%), and others (14.9%).
CONCLUSION
Smokers should be encouraged to stick to the proven way for recommended period of time for successful cessation of smoking.

Keyword

Compliance; Smoking; Varenicline

MeSH Terms

Compliance
Surveys and Questionnaires
Nicotine
Prescriptions
Receptors, Nicotinic
Smoke*
Smoking Cessation
Smoking*
Telephone
Varenicline
Nicotine
Receptors, Nicotinic
Smoke

Figure

• 

  Figure 1 Flow chart of enrollment in the study. Telephone survey was tried from June 2010 to May 2011 around the first, second, or third anniversary dates of these patients' first varenicline prescription.

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  Figure 2 Seven-day continuous abstinence rates from smoking at 1, 2 and 3 years since the first dose of varenicline. Among 133 available respondents, the 7-day continuous abstinence rates were 43.6% (17/39) in the 1st year survey group, 30.6% (11/36) in the 2nd year survey group and 32.8% (19/58) in the 3rd year survey group, respectively.

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  Figure 3 Fagerström's nicotine dependence test in patients who failed to stop smoking. The proportion of patients with severe nicotine dependence was 0%, 24.0%, and 30.8% at 1, 2, and 3 years after the first dose of varenicline, respectively, which shows successive increases with each year since the first dose of varenicline (p for trend=0.007). The severity of dependence by score of Fagerström's nicotine dependence test. Mild, 0-3; moderate, 4-6; severe, 7-10.

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