So far so good on Chantix (to Stop Smoking)

SzAdmin · October 14, 2015, 8:48pm

Varenicline (Chantix, Pfizer) is a safe and effective aid to help patients with stably treated schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder to stop smoking, new research suggests.

Results of a randomized trial showed that 12 weeks of treatment of patients with these disorders was more effective at achieving smoking cessation than placebo, with no increase in adverse events, including suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts.

“Smokers with psychotic disorders are motivated to try to quit smoking and should routinely be provided with smoking cessation treatment,” lead author Jill M. Williams, MD, director of the Division of Addiction Psychiatry at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, in New Brunswick, told Medscape Medical News.

Source:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/765700

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Does varenicline worsen psychiatric symptoms in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder? A review of published studies.

JM Cerimele and A Durango, The Journal of clinical psychiatry, Aug 2012

To review published cases and prospective studies describing the use of varenicline in patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.PubMed, PsychINFO, and the Cochrane Database were searched in July 2011 using the key words schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, psychosis, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, aggression, hostility, suicidal ideation AND varenicline to identify reports published between January 2006 and July 2011 in English.Five case reports, 1 case series, 1 retrospective study, 10 prospective studies (17 publications), and 1 meeting abstract describing the use of varenicline in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were identified. Review articles and articles describing findings other than the use of varenicline in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were excluded. Thirteen reports were included in the final analysis.Information on each study's patient population, age, diagnosis, medication treatment, tobacco use history, adverse effects, and outcome was collected from the published reports.Of the 260 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who received varenicline in these published reports, 13 patients (5%) experienced the onset or worsening of any psychiatric symptom, although 3 of the 13 patients experienced a very brief negative effect after 1 dose. No patients experienced suicidal ideation or suicidal behaviors.Published reports suggest that, in most stable, closely monitored patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, varenicline treatment is not associated with worsening of psychiatric symptoms. Current, prospective studies are assessing effectiveness and further assessing safety in this population.