Effects on abstinence of nicotine patch treatment before quitting smoking: parallel, two arm, pragmatic randomised trial

Abstract

Objective To examine the effectiveness of a nicotine patch worn for four weeks before a quit attempt. Design Randomised controlled open label trial. Setting Primary care and smoking cessation clinics in England, 2012-15. Participants 1792 adults who were daily smokers with tobacco dependence. 899 were allocated to the preloading arm and 893 to the control arm. Interventions Participants were randomised 1:1, using concealed randomly permuted blocks stratified by centre, to either standard smoking cessation pharmacotherapy and behavioural support or the same treatment supplemented by four weeks of 21 mg nicotine patch use before quitting: “preloading.”