Adaptive smoking cessation approaches can help individuals who struggle with traditional methods, according to a new study led by Gal Cohen, head of scientific affairs at Rose Research Center in North Carolina, USA, and conducted in collaboration with researchers from the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) at the University of Catania in Italy.
Nearly 40 years after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first smoking-cessation products, the effectiveness of most methods remains low, with smokers requiring an average of 30 attempts for each successful cessation outcome.
In their paper “Personalized and Adaptive Interventions for Smoking Cessation: Emerging Trends and Determinants of Efficacy,” Cohen and his team analyze the limitations and prospects of the most commonly used smoking cessation methods, and conclude that adaptive smoking cessation approaches can represent a better solution for individuals who struggle with traditional methods.
The study highlights the complexities of cigarette addiction and innovations in cessation products. By focusing on individual determinants of efficacy—such as sensory preferences and nicotine tolerability—the article offers fresh insights into smoking cessation and advocates for personalized, adaptive treatment plans. It also highlights how emerging approaches, like cytisine and combustion-free nicotine delivery systems, provide new avenues to reduce smoking-related morbidity.
“Quitting smoking is hard; you are trying to extinguish the complex interplay of nicotine delivery, sensorial experience and use ritual that cigarettes provide to people who smoke” said Cohen in a statement. “However, the emerging array of pharmaceutical cessation therapies and nicotine substitution products offer the opportunity to personalize the off-ramp from smoking.”
According to CoEHAR founder Riccardo Polosa, nicotine replacement therapies provide neither the bolus nicotine delivery nor the sensory stimuli and behavioral rituals associated with smoking. Conversely, electronic nicotine delivery systems represent the most prevalent nicotine substitution products and were used every day or some days by 11-17 million U.S. adults.
In a survey of adult vapers in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, 73 percent of respondents said they used e-cigarettes because they wanted quit smoking.