Nicotine itself is not ...

Expert opinion

Olga V. Vihireva Sci. Officer labs. med. Sociology, State Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Russian Ministry of Health * Materials of A. McNeill and A. Hendrie and expert group of the European Regional Office of WHO (Copenhagen, 2001). Despite the high prevalence of smoking in our country, the Russian doctors often prefer to ignore this risk in their patients. We assign antihypertensive medications high blood pressure, holesterinsnizhayuschie funds - those with high cholesterol levels in plasma. This is considered a mandatory part of clinical practice. But few doctors are willing to explain the smoking patients that nicotine addiction - it's the same disease that requires long-term, including medical treatment. Even fewer doctors are trained to give specific advice to people interested in quitting smoking. Modern medicine is based on the principles of evidence. In accordance with these principles must take into account the fact that modern medication increases the chances of successful quitting twice. Currently, a first-line drugs for the treatment of tobacco dependence are different dosage forms of nicotine and bupropion hydrochloride. Since the last in our country are not registered, as appropriate, in our view, to highlight some of the characteristics is nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Unfortunately, with respect to NRT in Russia, there are plenty of prejudice, and fairly common in medical environments. Prejudice 1. "A drop of nicotine kills a horse ... And in your preparations nicotine present in its pure form! Safety of NRT Nicotine causes addiction to cigarettes, but the direct damage to health does not he, but cigarette smoke contains thousands of dangerous impurities. Nicotine itself is not a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease or cancer, so all forms of NRT is much safer than cigarettes [1]. Although several studies in mice in vitro and in vivo studies have shown that certain metabolites of nicotine can be transformed into nitrosamines [2] and that nicotine in these laboratory animals can stimulate angiogenesis, promoting tumor growth and atherosclerosis [3], proof of a similar adverse effect in humans no. Years of experience with NRT in the USA [4] and UK [5] demonstrates its safety. The frequency of clinically significant adverse effects of NRT is low enough, and contraindications for its use very little. The most common adverse effects of NRT are local manifestations - irritation of the skin, oral cavity, nose, throat, cough, rhinitis, lacrimation, and hiccups, indigestion, pain in the jaw area [6]. Typically, these symptoms are mild and short-term. In large doses nicotine can cause toxic reactions, but this happens very rarely, because tolerance to it develops very quickly.