SynthesisCMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne2008
Pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 121 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
121 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 316 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of the effectiveness, safety and acceptance of nicotine replacement therapy use for vaping cessation in youth aged 17 years or younger.Systematic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Cost-effectiveness of smoking cessation programs for hospitalized patients: a systematic review.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2019Pooled it
- Updated Cardiovascular Prevention Guideline of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology - 2019.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2019Guideline
- Smoking cessation interventions for potential use in the lung cancer screening setting: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Lung cancer (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2019Pooled it
- Diminishing benefit of smoking cessation medications during the first year: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2018Pooled it
- Varenicline and Adverse Cardiovascular Events: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2016Pooled it
- Smoking and increased Alzheimer's disease risk: a review of potential mechanisms.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2014Pooled it
- Effective behaviour change techniques in smoking cessation interventions for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a meta-analysis.British journal of health psychology · 2014Pooled it
- Mind-body practices: an alternative, drug-free treatment for smoking cessation? A systematic review of the literature.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2013Pooled it
- Efficacy of psychostimulant drugs for amphetamine abuse or dependence.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- Pharmacological interventions for smoking cessation: an overview and network meta-analysis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- Efficacy, tolerability, and acceptability of bupropion for major depressive disorder: a meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials comparison with venlafaxine.Drug design, development and therapy · 2013Pooled it
- Economic evaluation of pharmaco- and behavioral therapies for smoking cessation: a critical and systematic review of empirical research.Annual review of public health · 2012Pooled it
- Time-varying mediated effects of the nicotine patch on smoking before and after a quit attempt when it is added to varenicline and counseling.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Trial
- A randomized controlled trial of intermittent theta burst stimulation to the medial prefrontal cortex for tobacco use disorder: Clinical efficacy and safety.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Trial
- Leveling the Playing Field: Mailing Pharmacotherapy to Medicaid Members Who Smoke.American journal of preventive medicine · 2023Trial
- Varenicline as a treatment for cannabis use disorder: A placebo-controlled pilot trial.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Trial
- Smoking cessation intervention in Australian general practice: a secondary analysis of a cluster randomised controlled trial.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Lower self-efficacy and greater depressive symptoms predict greater failure to recover from a single lapse cigarette.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2020Trial
61 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
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- Comment on
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMany placebo-controlled trials have demonstrated the efficacy of individual pharmacotherapies approved for smoking cessation. However, few direct or indirect comparisons of such interventions have been conducted. We performed a meta-analysis to compare the treatment effects of 7 approved pharmacologic interventions for smoking cessation.
methodsWe searched the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Tobacco Information and Prevention database as well as MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library for published reports of placebo-controlled, double-blind randomized controlled trials of pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation. We included studies that reported biochemically validated measures of abstinence at 6 and 12 months. We used a hierarchical Bayesian random-effects model to summarize the results for each intervention.
resultsWe identified 70 published reports of 69 trials involving a total of 32 908 patients. Six of the 7 pharmacotherapies studied were found to be more efficacious than placebo: varenicline (odds ratio [OR] 2.41, 95% credible interval [CrI] 1.91-3.12), nicotine nasal spray (OR 2.37, 95% CrI 1.12-5.13), bupropion (OR 2.07, 95% CrI 1.73-2.55), transdermal nicotine (OR 2.07, 95% CrI 1.69-2.62), nicotine tablet (OR 2.06, 95% CrI 1.12-5.13) and nicotine gum (OR 1.71, 95% CrI 1.35-2.21). Similar results were obtained regardless of which measure of abstinence was used. Although the point estimate favoured nicotine inhaler over placebo (OR 2.17), these results were not conclusive because the credible interval included unity (95% CrI 0.95-5.43). When all 7 interventions were included in the same model, all were more efficacious than placebo. In our analysis of data from the varenicline trials that included bupropion control arms, we found that varenicline was superior to bupropion (OR 2.18, 95% CrI 1.09-4.08).
interpretationVarenicline, bupropion and the 5 nicotine replacement therapies were all more efficacious than placebo at promoting smoking abstinence at 6 and 12 months.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.