Bupropion SR vs placebo for smoking cessation in health care professionals.

Objective: To evaluate bupropion SR for smoking cessation in physicians and nurses.

Methods: This double-blind prospective 26-center, 12-country trial randomized 687 subjects to smoking cessation counselling with bupropion SR or placebo for 7 weeks. The participants were followed for 52 weeks.

Results: Bupropion SR was superior to placebo (50% vs 40%, P=0.013) on the 4-week primary outcome variable. Due to a high placebo response in this health care population, statistical differences were not maintained after treatment was discontinued.

Conclusions: Bupropion SR is effective and well tolerated in health care professionals. Relapse prevention measures are needed to attain long-term abstinence.