‘Patch test’ could help determine which smokers need extra help to quit

Researchers at Duke University say that heavily dependent, male smokers who do not repond to nicotine replacement might need to combine cessation methods in order to quit.

“The findings offer a potential practical treatment approach that can identify smokers who don’t respond to a single conventional treatment, but may benefit enormously from a combination of treatments,” said Jed Rose, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center for Smoking Cessation and the study’s lead author.
The study involved 349 adult participants, all of whom smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day, and researchers determined their level of nicotine dependence by means of a questionnaire.