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Naltrexone can help women to quit smoking

10/Oct/2006: Researchers at University of Chicago has found that, Naltrexone, a drug used in the management of alcohol and opioid (morphine, heroin etc.,) dependence, can be used to help women to quit smoking. Researchers, who were involved in this study, said that this drug was more effective in women than in men.

Smoking increases health risks like myocardial infarction (heart attack), diseases of the respiratory tract like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, lung cancer and cancer of the larynx and tongue.

The study found that, naltrexone also helps in reducing the chances of gaining weight after quitting smoking. Women, who were administered this drug during the study, gained an average of 1 pound in the first month after quitting smoking, while women who were given a placebo gained an average of 4 pounds in the same period. 110 participants, who smoked 15 to 40 cigarettes a day and previously attempted to quit, participated in this study.

All the participants of this study were given nicotine patches and behavioral therapy and half of them were given one naltrexone daily and the rest were given a placebo. The study found that 58% of the women, who took naltrexone, remained smoke-free after two months compared to 39% of women in the placebo group. However, no such difference was observed between the placebo and the naltrexone group in men.

The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes smoking as the single most preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause for premature death worldwide. If pregnant women avoid smoking, infant mortality rates, could be reduced significantly.

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