Varenicline Versus Cytisine for Smoking Cessation in a Primary Care Setting: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Oreskovic Stjepan , Ashburner Jeffrey M. , Tiljak Hrvoje , Rifel Janez , Oreskovic Tin , Ketiš Zalika Klemenc , Percac-Lima Sanja 
Published: July 2021

Our study aims to implement a smoking cessation program using pharmacotherapy in a real-life setting — primary care practices in Croatia and Slovenia — and to investigate whether cytisine is at least as feasible and effective as Varenicline in helping smokers to quit in a randomized non-inferiority trial. The use of these medications as an intervention tool for smoking cessation in Croatia and Slovenia is not previously explored and the level of awareness and interest in pharmacotherapy among smokers is unknown.

Background

Tobacco addiction is a chronic disorder that accounts for more than 8 million premature deaths each year worldwide1. While more than 7 million deaths are the result of direct tobacco use, around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.2 Smokers suffer from poorer health and are at greater risk of cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. As a result, half of them die prematurely, on average 14 years earlier.3 Among the World Health Organization (WHO) regions, Europe, with 28% of the total population smoking, has the highest prevalence of tobacco smoking in adults and increasing rates among adolescent and female populations.4 The European Union and Central Europe in particular has one of the highest proportions of deaths attributable to tobacco use, causing more than 700.000 deaths annually in the European Union.5 WHO has estimated that tobacco use is currently responsible for 16% of all deaths in adults over 30 years of age in this region.6

Croatia and Slovenia, countries in Central Europe, have a high prevalence of smoking due in part to 1) cultural habits and a tradition of smoking tobacco; 2) problems with financing health care insurance systems; and 3) the strong influence of the tobacco industries on government and national policies. During the past two decades, Croatian and Slovenian tobacco control policies followed the strategies set forth by WHO. However, the impact on the prevalence of smoking differed in each country. Croatia and Slovenia, two European neighboring countries with similar levels of economic development, education and culture have a very high but different smoking prevalence: in Croatia, 39.4% of males and 33.5% of females smoke7; in Slovenia, 27.5% of males and 21.1% of females.8 Comprehensive tobacco control programs in Slovenia have resulted in significant declines in cigarettes sales and the prevalence of smoking among adults and youth as tobacco control programs have become a national health policy priority.

Aim

Our study aims to implement a smoking cessation program using pharmacotherapy in a real life setting — primary care practices in Croatia and Slovenia — and to investigate whether cytisine is at least as feasible and effective as Varenicline in helping smokers to quit in a randomized non-inferiority trial.

Hypothesis

Cytisine is at least as feasible and effective as Varenicline in helping smokers to quit in a randomized non-inferiority trial.

Implications

The use of these medications as an intervention tool for smoking cessation in Croatia and Slovenia is not previously explored and the level of awareness and interest in pharmacotherapy among smokers is unknown.

Varenicline (trade name: Chantix and Champix) is a prescription medication used to treat nicotine addiction. It reduces craving for smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products. It is a high-affinity partial agonist for the α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtype (nACh) that leads to the release of dopamine in the nucleus acumbens when activated. It has the capacity to reduce the feelings of desire and unpleasant effectsc of the withdrawal caused by smoking cessation9.

Cytisine is a generic agent manufactured by Sopharma (trade name Tabex) and by Aflofarm Farmacia Polska (trade name Desmoxan). Cytisine acts by reducing the rewarding effect of nicotine and attenuating nicotine withdrawal symptoms. It’s a plant-based alkaloid found in members of the Leguminosae family (e.g., Cytisus laburnum). Cytisine is a partial agonist of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), binding with high affinity to the α4β2 subtype, which is central to the effect of nicotine on the reward pathway10.

Several studies have shown that pharmacotherapy using Varenicline or cytisine is effective for smoking cessation. 11,12,13 The current evidence shows that Varenicline is the most effective pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation. Varenicline was more efficacious than bupropion or NRT and as effective as combination NRT for tobacco smoking cessation. It is estimated that Varenicline successfully helps one of every 11 people who smoke remain abstinent from tobacco at six months14. A meta-analysis found that less than 20% of people treated with varenicline remain abstinent from smoking at one year.15,16 Four systematic reviews report cytisine to be superior to placebo for short-term and long-term abstinence. The results of the CASCAID trial showed that cytisine was superior to NRT for smoking cessation and, specifically, that cytisine was 1.43 times more likely than nicotine patches with gum or lozenges to help participants stop smoking and remain non-smokers for six months.11 However, head to head comparisons in real-life settings are lacking and needed17, including a cost-effectiveness analysis taking into the account the fact that cytisine is a low-cost therapy compared with Varenicline and other smoking cessation medications (cytisine at $19.61 for 25 days of treatment; varenicline at $416 for 12 weeks and $832 for 24 weeks). If shown to be non-inferior, therapy with cytisine would be known to result in a lower cost for a similar efficacy.

Primary care practices are an ideal real-life setting for the implementation and evaluation of pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation, as they are exactly the setting where participants would normally receive treatment from their medical care providers, thus addressing possible concerns about generalizations which may limit a study conducted in a context importantly different from that where the investigated treatments would be used.18