Therefore, indicating whether which specific nicotine replacement agent will work more effectively and which one is recommended for nicotine dependent patients with a history of CAD or MI and indicate if NRT can increase the risk of acute MI, acute stroke, or death?
The study were based on hospitalize patients chosen from 68 hospitals who are nicotine dependent and had their first heart attack (MI). The control group were also smokers who never encounter MI or any heart diseases. Both groups were given nicotine or placebo patches within a 2-8 week study period. Their primary outcome was to determine whether Nicotine Replacement Therapy is associated with an increased risk of acute MI, acute stroke, or death.
The end results of the experiments showed an increase in smoking abstinence in the patients on nicotine therapy (27%) versus placebo (13%) (Kelly, 2011). Therefore patients are more likely to slow the craving for nicotine while using the nicotine patch rather than the placebo. In the experiment published by The Health Improvement Network (THIN), the observational review of 33,247 patients, the findings demonstrated that there was no overall increase in the risk of acute MI, stroke, or death in the 8 weeks following the first prescription for NRT (Kelly, 2011). Overall, the use of NRT does not increase the risk of heart