Smoking Cessation Drug Shown Effective for People With Schizophrenia

The anti-smoking treatment varenicline is effective as an adjunctive treatment for reducing smoking in people with schizophrenia, a new study shows.

“Smoking is more common among patients with schizophrenia than it is in the general population,” a team of researchers from Korea wrote in the study, published online in Schizophrenia Research. The National Institute of Mental Health reported in 2009 that 70 to 85 percent of people with schizophrenia use tobacco, compared with 22.5 of people without psychiatric illness.

The team recruited sixty smokers with schizophrenia and randomized them to receive either varenicline (Chantix) or placebo for the 8-week double-blind trial.

“Varenicline, a partial and full agonist at the α4β2 and α7 nicotine acetylcholine receptors, respectively, has been shown to be an effective anti-smoking treatment,” the researchers wrote.

They used the Minnesota Nicotine Withdrawal Scale (mNWS), Brief Questionnaire of Smoking Urge (QSU-brief), and Modified Cigarette Evaluation Questionnaire (mCEQ) to gauge smoking behavior, and measured exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) levels to assess smoking dependency and status.

Smoking, CO levels and total mCEQ scores decreased over the course of the study in the varenicline group. Significant declines were also seen over the study period in the varenicline group on three portions of the mCEQ: smoking satisfaction, psychological reward, and enjoyment of respiratory tract sensation.

“Adjunctive varenicline treatment with antipsychotics was generally well-tolerated and safe,” the researchers wrote.

“Varenicline showed significant efficacy in reducing smoking in people with schizophrenia,” they concluded.

– Terri Airov

Reference

Jeon D, Shim J, Kong B, et al. Adjunctive varenicline treatment for smoking reduction in patients with schizophrenia: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Schizophrenia Research. 2016 August 16;[Epub ahead of print].

Expert panel addresses high rates of smoking in people with psychiatric disorders. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-news/2009/expert-panel-addresses-high-rates-of-smoking-in-people-with-psychiatric-disorders.shtml. Published February 18, 2009. Accessed August 23, 2016.