Extra Help Boosts Smoking Quit Rate

People who get multiple treatments, or long-term help, are more likely to succeed in quitting smoking, two studies suggest. The studies appeared April 7 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. In one study, 750 people who wanted to quit were randomly assigned to different treatments. One group received either a nicotine patch or buproprion, a depression drug. The other groups used the patch or buproprion. They also received either two or six counseling calls. The group with the most counseling had the most success in quitting. The second study included 127 smokers who also had heart or lung disease. They were randomly assigned to treatment groups. One group received nicotine patches. The other got patches, a nicotine inhaler and buproprion. Quit rates were nearly twice as high in the second group.