Adherence to nicotine replacement therapy among Chinese smokers who had no intention to quit smoking

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Evidence had shown that nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is effective to help smokers quit. Many studies reported a positive linear relationship between adherence and cessation rates however, adherence to NRT among unmotivated smokers is uncertain. METHODS: Chinese smokers who aged $18, had no intention to quit within 4-week and had no contraindication to NRT were recruited and randomly allocated to Group A1, A2 and B in a RCT. Only Group A1 and A2 were provided 8-week free NRT. We reported 8-week adherence rate to NRT at 3-month and reasons for noncompliance among subjects in Group A1 and A2. RESULTS: From October 2004 to April 2007, 1154 smokers were recruited (Group A1¼479; A2¼449; B¼226). Subjects in Group A1 and A2 (n¼928) were 42.0610.3 year-old and smoked 19.669.4 cigarettes daily on average. We contacted 797 subjects (85.9%) for 3-month follow-up, but those who did not receive 8-week free NRT (n¼115; 14.4%) were removed from the analysis. 55.4% (378/682) used NRT as the recommended regime, 41.6% (284/682) did not fully comply with the prescription and 3.0% (20/682) even did not use it. Among 304 (n¼284+20) who did not comply, “Forget to use” (24.0%) and “Side effects” (14.5%) are the two most cited reasons for non-compliance. CONCLUSION: The adherence rate in this study is more encouraging compared to a local study (20%) which only provided 1-week free NRT. Thus, providing the entire course of free NRTseems to yield an improved NRT adherence among unmotivated Chinese smokers.