Nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation

There are various forms of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) people can use to stop smoking. NRT is available as skin patches that deliver nicotine slowly, and chewing gum, nasal spray, inhalers, and lozenges/tablets, all of which deliver nicotine to the brain more quickly than from skin patches, but less rapidly than from smoking cigarettes:

All forms of NRT made it more likely that a person's attempt to quit smoking would succeed. The chances of stopping smoking were increased by 50 to 70%.

People who use NRT during a quit attempt are likely to further increase their chance of success by using a combination of the nicotine patch and a faster acting form.

NRT works with or without additional counseling, and does not need to be prescribed by a doctor.

Evidence suggests no overall difference in effectiveness of different forms of NRT or a benefit for using patches beyond 8 weeks.