Smoking-Cessation Drugs Safe To Use: No Psychiatric Side Effects, Study Says

People who want to quit smoking can always opt for medication designed to help them with such a dilemma. Smoking-cessation drugs such as Varenicline and Bupropion have been plagued with allegations that the drug can cause europsychiatric side effects like suicidal behavior or depression. However, a new study found the said medications are safe for use and cause no psychological side effects.

Review Of Smoking-Cessation Drugs

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked for the review of smoking-cessation drugs, which was published in the journal The Lancet. This is in aid of the controversies around Varenicline and Bupropion regarding its efficiency and safety.

According to Nature World News, the researchers compared smoking-cessation drugs to nicotine patches and a placebo management team. The research involved over 8,000 people who were trying to quit smoking from 16 countries.

Smoking-Cessation Drugs Compared To Other Methods

The subjects participated in a "randomized, controlled, double-blind trials," which spanned from November 2011 to January 2015. Half of the partakers have psychiatric problems.

STAT reported the threat of suicidal attempts or behavior of the participants with no psychological issues were statistically low and the same. People using Varenicline was about 1.3 percent while the ones taking Bupropion is 2.2 percent.

The figures were quite the same for the persons taking utilizing nicotine patch with 2.5 percent while those under placebo was 2.4 percent. People with psychiatric problems, on the other hand, were at higher risk to experience the side effects.

The results showed that side effect risks were 6.5 percent for those using Varenicline, 6.7 percent for Bupropion, 5.2 percent for the nicotine patch and almost 5 percent for those under placebo.

Smoking-Cessation Drugs, Suicide And Psychological Issues

For the record, there were no participants who committed suicide. But one person using Bupropion and two takers of placebos attempted to kill themselves.

"The findings show that it is highly unlikely that (the medicines) contribute to neuropsychiatric adverse events," the authors the study said. In fact, they proved smoking-cessation drugs were safe and effective to be used by mentally challenged people, who wanted to quit smoking.

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