AP PhotoA Kansas University School of Medicine study says that an anti-smoking drug works for blacks whose smoking cessation success rate is 34 percent lower than whites.
The research conclusions of Dr. Jasjit Ahluwalia and his team of five researchers were released today in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.
Zyban, an antidepressant approved for helping people kick the habit, was more effective than a placebo pill in the study of 600 adult black smokers who smoked an average of 17 cigarettes a day.
Ahluwalia began the research project in 1998 and finished testing in 2000. The study which was funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute is significant because it analyzes a population of smokers that had not been previously studied, he said.
“This population was not included in two big studies using Zyban,” he said. “Those studies used mostly white, middle-class Americans. We thought it would be very important to know if the drug worked the same.”
The study showed that the drug along with a counseling technique called motivational interviewing has a similar effect on blacks. After seven weeks of treatment, 36 percent of Zyban users had quit compared with 19 percent of the placebo group. An editorial that accompanies the articles points out that both groups also participated in eight counseling sessions led by black counselors, which might have contributed significantly to the results.
Though quit rates dropped as the research continued, more smokers who used Zyban remained smoke-free at the end of the study than those who used the placebo pills.
Ahluwalia said the results were exciting.
“This starts to add pieces to fill up the puzzle and to learn more about smoking cessation in African-Americans,” he said.
Ahluwalia is now working on a research project funded by the National Institute of Health to look at smoke addiction in blacks who are light smokers.
AP PhotoA Kansas University School of Medicine study says that an anti-smoking drug works for blacks whose smoking cessation success rate is 34 percent lower than whites.
The research conclusions of Dr. Jasjit Ahluwalia and his team of five researchers were released today in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.
Zyban, an antidepressant approved for helping people kick the habit, was more effective than a placebo pill in the study of 600 adult black smokers who smoked an average of 17 cigarettes a day.
Ahluwalia began the research project in 1998 and finished testing in 2000. The study which was funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute is significant because it analyzes a population of smokers that had not been previously studied, he said.
“This population was not included in two big studies using Zyban,” he said. “Those studies used mostly white, middle-class Americans. We thought it would be very important to know if the drug worked the same.”
The study showed that the drug along with a counseling technique called motivational interviewing has a similar effect on blacks. After seven weeks of treatment, 36 percent of Zyban users had quit compared with 19 percent of the placebo group. An editorial that accompanies the articles points out that both groups also participated in eight counseling sessions led by black counselors, which might have contributed significantly to the results.
Though quit rates dropped as the research continued, more smokers who used Zyban remained smoke-free at the end of the study than those who used the placebo pills.
Ahluwalia said the results were exciting.
“This starts to add pieces to fill up the puzzle and to learn more about smoking cessation in African-Americans,” he said.
Ahluwalia is now working on a research project funded by the National Institute of Health to look at smoke addiction in blacks who are light smokers.
AP PhotoA Kansas University School of Medicine study says that an anti-smoking drug works for blacks whose smoking cessation success rate is 34 percent lower than whites.
The research conclusions of Dr. Jasjit Ahluwalia and his team of five researchers were released today in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.
Zyban, an antidepressant approved for helping people kick the habit, was more effective than a placebo pill in the study of 600 adult black smokers who smoked an average of 17 cigarettes a day.
Ahluwalia began the research project in 1998 and finished testing in 2000. The study which was funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute is significant because it analyzes a population of smokers that had not been previously studied, he said.
“This population was not included in two big studies using Zyban,” he said. “Those studies used mostly white, middle-class Americans. We thought it would be very important to know if the drug worked the same.”
The study showed that the drug along with a counseling technique called motivational interviewing has a similar effect on blacks. After seven weeks of treatment, 36 percent of Zyban users had quit compared with 19 percent of the placebo group. An editorial that accompanies the articles points out that both groups also participated in eight counseling sessions led by black counselors, which might have contributed significantly to the results.
Though quit rates dropped as the research continued, more smokers who used Zyban remained smoke-free at the end of the study than those who used the placebo pills.
Ahluwalia said the results were exciting.
“This starts to add pieces to fill up the puzzle and to learn more about smoking cessation in African-Americans,” he said.
Ahluwalia is now working on a research project funded by the National Institute of Health to look at smoke addiction in blacks who are light smokers.
AP PhotoA Kansas University School of Medicine study says that an anti-smoking drug works for blacks whose smoking cessation success rate is 34 percent lower than whites.
The research conclusions of Dr. Jasjit Ahluwalia and his team of five researchers were released today in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.
Zyban, an antidepressant approved for helping people kick the habit, was more effective than a placebo pill in the study of 600 adult black smokers who smoked an average of 17 cigarettes a day.
Ahluwalia began the research project in 1998 and finished testing in 2000. The study which was funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute is significant because it analyzes a population of smokers that had not been previously studied, he said.
“This population was not included in two big studies using Zyban,” he said. “Those studies used mostly white, middle-class Americans. We thought it would be very important to know if the drug worked the same.”
The study showed that the drug along with a counseling technique called motivational interviewing has a similar effect on blacks. After seven weeks of treatment, 36 percent of Zyban users had quit compared with 19 percent of the placebo group. An editorial that accompanies the articles points out that both groups also participated in eight counseling sessions led by black counselors, which might have contributed significantly to the results.
Though quit rates dropped as the research continued, more smokers who used Zyban remained smoke-free at the end of the study than those who used the placebo pills.
Ahluwalia said the results were exciting.
“This starts to add pieces to fill up the puzzle and to learn more about smoking cessation in African-Americans,” he said.
Ahluwalia is now working on a research project funded by the National Institute of Health to look at smoke addiction in blacks who are light smokers.
