The smoking cessation drug varenicline (Chantix, Pfizer) appears to enhance cognition in nonsmoking individuals with and those without schizophrenia, new research indicates.
The results also showed that the drug reduced the cognitive impairment typically associated with smoking cessation in individuals with schizophrenia.
“Given the high prevalence of smoking in patients with schizophrenia and some of the associated cognitive deficits found in these patients, having a smoking cessation aid that also targets these cognitive deficits would be ideal,” lead author Karolina Kozak, a PhD candidate at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, told Medscape Medical News.
The findings were reported in a letter to the editor published online March 10 in Schizophrenia Research.
I actually tried varenicline (Chantix, Pfizer) once, before I was diagnosed to give up smoking and the only thing it did for me was to give me suicidal ideation.