Weight gain is a concern, particularly in women. Many women use nicotine as a weight control measure. Nicotine replacement helps mitigate weight gain, which, on average, is 10 pounds over the first 6 months. This weight gain can be controlled through exercise, however. Exercise itself, may reduce the craving for tobacco.
Some women also use nicotine to combat depression.
Thus, depressed patients who are candidates for smoking cessation must be closely counseled by their health care professionals. If the possibility of worsening depression is a realistic consideration, bupropion is also used as an antidepressant. This drug may be particularly useful in women who are on the verge of depression while stopping smoking. Today, we need a grassroots effort in smoking cessation. Such an effort may be the result of the new National Lung Health Education Program, which aims to identify smokers at risk of developing symptomatic COPD and associated diseases of lung cancer, heart attack, and stroke.