A prospective pragmatic interventional study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of varenicline for smoking cessation among a cohort of motivated smokers attending two smoking cessation clinics. Smokers between 18 and 65 years who had smoked 10 or more cigarettes per day were included. All participants received cognitive-behavioural varenicline according to approved dose and prescriptions. Continuous abstinence, validated by exhaled CO levels, was assessed in each control. A total of 264 smokers -- 155 males (58.7%) and 109 females (41.3%) -- were included. Mean age was 43.7, amount smoked was 23 cigarettes per day and 61.4% had at least one prior attempt to quit. The continuous abstinence rate at end of treatment (12 wks) was 58.3%.
Conclusions: varenicline and cognitive-behavioural intervention are effective for smoking cessation with high continuous abstinence rates when are used in a clinical setting.
Keywords: Smoking cessation; cognitive-behavioural intervention; continuous abstinence; varenicline.