In this study, success was defined as "not smoking (even one puff) daily for one week and not smoking even a puff at least one day in each of two consecutive weeks at any point in the trial." A more stringent criterion of prolonged abstinence, not smoking even one puff after the first week of quitting, was also used and showed similar results.
Fifty-two research subjects received naltrexone. In this group, after eight weeks of treatment, men and women had comparable success rates: 62 percent of men and 58 percent of women. In contrast, among the 58 research subjects who did not receive naltrexone, success remained high in men with 67 percent quitting smoking, but was significantly lower in women, with only 39 percent quitting. So, while the women on placebo had lower quit rates than men, the women taking naltrexone had quit rates similar to men.
Previous studies have found that nicotine replacement may be less effective in suppressing withdrawal symptoms in women, but the combination of the nicotine patch and naltrexone appears to restore the balance. Naltrexone helped women, but not men, get over the effects of tobacco withdrawal more quickly. Craving for cigarettes decreased over time for men and women, but it decreased faster for women taking naltrexone.
Naltrexone also prevented the weight gain that commonly comes with giving up smoking. Those who did not get the drug gained about four pounds in the first month after quitting. Those who took the drug gained only one pound. A similar study from researchers at Yale University, published earlier this year, also found that naltrexone prevented cessation-related weight gain.
Although the drug reduced weight gain for participants of both sexes, "this issue may be more salient for women," the authors note. "It follows," they suggest, "th
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Contact: John Easton
John.Easton@uchospitals.edu
773-702-6241
University of Chicago Medical Center
9-Oct-2006