Varenicline as a smoking cessation aid in a Greek population: a subanalysis of an observational study

Tobacco Induced Diseases

Sunil Raju¹  Michael Messig³  Georgia D Sykara²  Paraskevi Argyropoulou Pataka⁴  Konstantinos Gourgoulianis⁵  Christina Gratziou⁶ 

[1] Pfizer Ltd, Tadworth, Surrey, UK;Pfizer, Athens, Greece;Pfizer Inc, New York, New York, USA;Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece;Pulmonary Department, Medical School, University of Thessaly, Thessaly, Greece;Evgenidio Hospital, Medical School, University of Athens, Athens, Greece

关键词: observational;    real world;    varenicline;    Greece;    smoking cessation;   

Others  :  867059
DOI  :  10.1186/1617-9625-10-1

 received in 2011-09-01, accepted in 2012-02-02,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Greece has the highest proportion of smokers in the European Union with 42% of Greeks admitting that they smoke, based on a 2009 survey. This post-hoc analysis of a prospective, observational study evaluated the effectiveness and safety profile of the smoking cessation aid varenicline, as well as potential predictors of quit success in a Greek population.

Methods

Participants were prescribed varenicline according to the recommendations of the European Summary of Product Characteristics (1 mg twice daily). The 7-day point prevalence of abstinence at Week 12 was determined based on verbal reporting using a nicotine use inventory. Abstinence was confirmed by carbon monoxide measurements of exhaled air at the last visit of the study. The safety profile of varenicline was also assessed.

Results

At baseline, the Greek subsample (n = 196) had a mean age of 42.6 years, with 54.6% of them being men. Participants had a smoking history of 23.5 years and a Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence total score of 6.6. After 12 weeks of varenicline therapy, 70.4% (95% CI, 64.0-76.7) of all participants had quit smoking. This increased to 86.2% among participants who had taken the study medication for 80% of the planned number of treatment days. Age was a significant predictor of quit success. The most frequently observed treatment-emergent adverse event was nausea, occurring in 13.3% of participants.

Conclusions

In this 'real-world' observational study, 70.4% of Greek smokers successfully quit smoking after 12 weeks of varenicline therapy, providing support that varenicline is an effective smoking cessation medication. Further studies with longer follow-up are warranted.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00669240

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Gratziou et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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