Authors: Stuart G. Ferguson, Jane Allen, William L. Furmanski, Donna Vallone, Joseph G. Gitchell, Saul Shiffman, Mark A. Sembower, Mike Wesnofske, Christine Tanner

Meeting: SRNT 14th Annual Meeting

Date: March 1, 2008

Paper Number 3, Paper Session #12: Clinical Treatment for Nicotine Dependence: Improving Existing Pharmacotherapy

10:00-11:30 am

Most smokers express a desire to quit and many try each year; however, in the US a substantial proportion of these smokers fail to use cessation aids that have been proven to improve success rates. Previous studies have reported that smokers who are misinformed about the safety of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) are less likely to report past NRT use or intended future use, suggesting that safety concerns are a barrier to use. In this study, we examined whether providing smokers with information about the safety of NRT might impact on their intentions to use NRT. 900 US smokers, drawn from an existing US market research database, completed an online survey. Misperceptions of NRT safety were common: 93% of smokers did not know that smoking while wearing the nicotine patch does not cause heart attacks; 76% that nicotine gums/ lozenges are not as addictive as cigarettes; and 69% that NRT products are not as dangerous as cigarettes. Smokers with the latter two misperceptions were less likely to have used NRT in the past. Smokers with misperceptions were asked whether scientific data on the misperceptions would influence their future intentions to use NRT (e.g., "if scientific studies showed that smoking while wearing the nicotine patch did not cause heart attacks…"). Approximately half the smokers reported that they would be more likely to use NRT to help them quit smoking (47%, 50% & 59% respectively for each of the misperceptions). These data suggest that while a sizeable proportion of smokers are still misinformed about the safety of NRT, that, if these misperceptions are successfully addressed, they might increase consideration for, or utilization of, NRT.