Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30278517›Full record

Trial reportMedicine2018

The effect of nicotine patches on craving in the brain: A functional MRI study on heavy smokers.

Keliane Liberman, Peter Van Schuerbeek, Sarah Herremans, Marc Meysman, Johan De Mey, Nico Buls

Open access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 31% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Nicotine Patch Alters Patterns of Cigarette Smoking-Induced Dopamine Release: Patterns Relate to Biomarkers Associated With Treatment Response.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2022
    Trial
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Keliane LibermanGerontology Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).
Peter Van SchuerbeekDepartement of Radiology.
Sarah HerremansDepartment of Psychiatry.
Marc MeysmanDepartment of Pneumology, Universitair Ziekenhis Brussel (UZ Brussel), Brussels, Belgium.
Johan De MeyDepartement of Radiology.
Nico BulsDepartement of Radiology.
Vrije Universiteit Brussel · BE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSmoking is a common phenomenon and kills over 6 million people every year. Many smokers try to quit smoking by using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Most of the time, relapse occurs in less than six months after finishing the program of NRT. We performed a single blinded study in which our aim was to figure out what the effect of the nicotine patch is on craving in the brain of smokers deprived from smoking.

methodsFive heavy smokers (Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence ≥4) underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 4 random conditions: smoking (S); smoking deprivation (SD); SD combined with a NP (SD + NP); SD combined with a placebo patch (SD + PP). Visual stimulation provoked craving in block design by randomly displaying images of smoking related scenes. After image preprocessing, a fixed-effect analysis was performed to compare average group activations. The Questionnaire for Smoking Urges (QSU) was obtained before and after each scan.

resultsThe fMRI results showed higher activation in areas involved in craving in S compared with SD + NP, SD + PP, and SD. In the SD + NP, limbic circuit and attention area were higher activated compared with SD and SD + PP. The SD + PP and SD showed higher activation in the frontal cortex and limbic system compared with S and SD + NP. Nonsmokers showed higher limbic activation compared with SD.The QSU increased significantly after the fMRI experiment in S (P = .036).The SD had higher QSU scores compared with the S before (P = .002), and also after (P = .022) the fMRI experiment. The NP showed lower scores than the SD before the experiment (P = .046).

conclusionThe fMRI experiment revealed lower activity in areas associated with attention when subjects were nicotine deprived (SD + PP and SD). Areas involved with craving showed less activity when nicotine is present (S and SD + NP). The QSU showed a significant difference between SD and when nicotine is present (S and SD + NP).

Indexed as

Tobacco Use Cessation DevicesAdultBrainCravingFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleSingle-Blind MethodSmokersSmokingTobacco Use Disorder

Identifiers

PMID30278517
PMCPMC6181594
OpenAlexW2918222900

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.