Metabolism-informed care was an acceptable option for patients who wanted to stop smoking, according to findings published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
“[Previous study] findings provide a rationale for metabolism-informed care,” Quinn Wells, PharmD, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and colleagues wrote. “By thus increasing the match rates between [nicotine metabolite ratios] and pharmacotherapy, [metabolism-informed care] could maximize the efficacy for normal metabolizers while minimizing side effects for slow metabolizers.”
Researchers asked 81 outpatient adult daily smokers (median age, 53 years) with medical comorbidity about their perceptions of metabolism-informed care, collected blood samples to ascertain nicotine metabolite ratio and provided expert cessation counseling. Medication selection was determined in the treatment group by patients’ nicotine metabolite ratio results — normal ( 0.31) vs. slow (< 0.31).
