Counseling on Weight Management Helps Female Smokers Quit

Many women worry that they'll gain weight if they quit smoking, so maybe it's no surprise that a smoking-cessation program that mixes medication with weight-management counseling is showing success.

University of Pittsburgh researchers found that the mix of Zyban (bupropion) and cognitive-behavioral therapy that addressed weight management produced better abstinence rates at six months post treatment than Zyban plus standard counseling, a placebo plus weight counseling, or a placebo plus standard counseling. Women who received the drug plus the weight-related therapy also tended to maintain abstinence longer before relapsing.

The overall abstinence rate among the study group was 16.3 percent at one year. Women who received Zyban were more likely to have successfully quit after a year, but the one-year quit rates were about the same for those who received weight counseling and those who received standard counseling.

The study was published in the March 22, 2010 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.