UW Quitting Using Intensive Treatment Study (QUITS) — QUITS  

Tobacco Dependence Clinical Trial

Official title: UW Quitting Using Intensive Treatment Study

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

This research will determine whether two highly promising modifications to varenicline treatment (i.e. use of a nicotine patch adjuvant and extended 24-week duration) produce superior smoking outcomes when they are either used together or alone. Despite their promise, the proposed modifications have never been experimentally evaluated relative to standard varenicline pharmacotherapy. Thus, this innovative research will produce novel evidence regarding how best to help smokers quit, and thereby address the leading cause of preventable mortality and morbidity related to cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases.

Clinical Trial Description

Building on our recent NHLBI-funded publication in JAMA (see references below) that described the modest effectiveness of varenicline pharmacotherapy, this study will use a 2 X 2 factorial design to evaluate two different medication use strategies on their ability to markedly enhance varenicline effectiveness in a large cohort of current smokers. Smokers (N=1000) will be randomly assigned to one of two levels for each of two factors: 1) an Adjuvant factor (varenicline + placebo patch versus varenicline + nicotine patch), and 2) a Duration factor (12 versus 24 weeks of active medication). Thus, this factorial design yields a "standard" varenicline treatment (12 weeks of active varenicline and 12 weeks of placebo varenicline + 24 weeks of placebo patch), and 3 enhanced treatments: 1) 12 weeks of active varenicline and 12 weeks of placebo varenicline + 24 weeks of active patch, 2) 24-weeks of active varenicline + 24 weeks of placebo patch, and 3) 24 weeks of active varenicline + 24 weeks of active patch.

Both treatment modifications, longer duration therapy and use of a nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) adjuvant, have produced some quite promising effects. However, in both cases these modifications have been little researched, their effects are not consistently positive, and they have not been implemented in a potentially optimal manner. We will implement each modification in an innovative manner designed to enhance its effectiveness. In addition, all participants will be given counseling that supports adherent medication use and that is readily translatable to healthcare settings. The scientific rigor of this work will be enhanced by the use of placebo medication, a large sample, and a factorial design. The latter will allow us to test both the main and interaction effects of the experimental factors. We will also be able to compare each enhanced treatment with standard 12-week varenicline-only therapy to determine whether any of these medication use strategies significantly enhances treatment effectiveness. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Tobacco Dependence
• Tobacco Use Disorder

• NCT number: NCT03176784
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 4
• Start date: November 11, 2017
• Completion date: July 9, 2020