Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Medication Plus Counseling May Help Teens Kick The Smoking Habit

ScienceDaily (Nov. 6, 2007) — The medication bupropion plus counseling appears to help adolescents quit cigarette smoking in the short term, according to a new report.

Almost one-fourth of U.S. high school students currently smoke cigarettes, according to background information in the article. Many teen smokers want to quit, but studies estimate that only about 4 percent of those who try are successful each year. The antidepressant bupropion has been shown to help adults quit smoking and also is used to treat attention deficit disorders in children.

Myra L. Muramoto, M.D., M.P.H., Scott J. Leischow, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Arizona, Tucson, conducted a clinical trial of 312 adolescents age 14 to 17 who smoked six or more cigarettes per day and had tried to quit at least twice before. They were randomly assigned to receive 150 milligrams (105 teens) or 300 milligrams (104 teens) of bupropion per day, or placebo (103 teens). Participants visited the clinic weekly for seven weeks--six weeks of treatment plus one week post-treatment--and received 10- to 20-minute individual cessation counseling sessions. They were interviewed by phone after 12 weeks and in person after 26 weeks.

Click here to read entire article at Science Daily.com

No comments: