Another Use for the Nicotine Patch
Tue, March 24, 2009 at 02:00AM Over the last 10 years there have been occasional reports of the use of nicotinic acid in attempts to improve mental functioning. These were summarized in a review article in the journal Psychopharmacology in 2006. Beneficial effects have been reported in learning, memory, and attention, and some people with mild Alzheimer’s have been found to improve.
Now a new study of the nicotine patch in people with memory problems associated with mild cognitive impairment has appeared. In a presentation at the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry 2009 meeting, scientists from the University of Vermont described a long-term study of the patch in 74 non-smokers who had “amnesic mild cognitive impairment”. The participants were given either a nicotine or a placebo patch for the first 6 months, followed by a 6-month cross-over stage in which everyone had the active treatment. The nicotine dose was gradually increased from 5 mg daily to 15 mg daily over the first 3 weeks. During the first 6 months, the subjects had tests of cognitive function, a continuous performance test, and an overall clinical impression evaluation, at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months.
Improvement in the overall assessment was seen at 6 months in 23% of the nicotine patch group, compared with 9% of those using the placebo patch. Self-rating of cognitive impairment and alertness by the subjects showed a strong trend in favor of the nicotine patch.
The investigators claim that there weren’t enough subjects in the trial to demonstrate conclusively that there was a genuine benefit in the measurements made. However, I believe that the effect of the patch must be rather weak, if a 74-patient study cannot show a statistically-significant improvement. I’ll wait for a better molecule before trying this approach to my age-related memory lapses.
Reader Comments (2)
Has anyone heard of these new electronic cigarettes that you can get for like $100? You can buy the nicotine charges to put in them. They are smokeless cigs and release nicotine into your system. Apparently you can use them anywhere. The rechargers are like $60 each. Is something like this safe since you are not actually smoking? So what I am trying to ask is, is this a safe alternative to smoking?
The FDA has opened an investigation and has refused to allow e-cigarettes, e-cigars and e-pipes to cross the border because they're considered new drugs that require FDA approval. They issued a temporary evaluation in July: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm173327.htm
It doesn't look too good.
Yours, Bob G.