PHARMACOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO SMOKING CESSATION

Currently, 28% of U.S. adults smoke, and this percentage is declining by 0.5% per year; however, this rate of decline must double if the goal in Healthy People 2000 (smoking prevalence of no more than 15% among adults) is to be reached. To help decrease physiological barriers to smoking cessation, numerous pharmacological approaches have been used. I review the effectiveness of these approaches, including interventions reported in the relatively older literature as well as more recent approaches, such as nicotine replacement, clonidine, antianxiety agents, and antidepressants. I also discuss the results and design of clinical trials.