Quitting smoking is definitely good for your health, regardless of age or how long you smoke. But for most smokers, it takes several attempts before it works - if at all. According to the present review, this is more likely to be achieved with varenicline and cicin.

Compared to placebo, vareniline increases the likelihood of successful smoking cessation by 2.32 times. This is indicated by data from more than 17,000 people in 41 studies, which were classified as very reliable. Twenty-six studies reported side effects that were more common than in the control group but were generally rare: up to four percent of those taking varenicline reported side effects, compared with three percent in the placebo group. Varenicline worked better than bupropion and also better than nicotine replacement therapies such as nicotine gum or patches. This was reported by the Cochrane Collaboration.

The active ingredient cytisine increases the chance of quitting smoking by around 30 percent compared to a placebo, and no specific side effects were observed. The four studies with more than 4,600 people on which this result was based were moderately reliable. Adverse events were reported in three studies but not observed with increasing frequency.

Cytisine is a substance from the mullein plant and varenicline is a substance derived from it. The effect occurs in two ways: Substances bind more strongly to nicotine receptors than nicotine, but elicit a weaker response. It relieves withdrawal symptoms while weakening the effects of nicotine. The available research data could not be conclusively concluded whether one of these active ingredients works better than the other.

Quelle: DOI 10.1002/14651858.CD006103.pub8