text_1: Nicotine Replacement Treatments May Not Work Long-Term
text_2: This story managed to address nearly all of our criteria in this clearly written piece. We always wish stories had a little more detail about costs, and this one, like the other two reviewed, also missed information about harms. The main drawback to this story, though, was that it relied too heavily on people connected to GlaxoSmithKline, which makes some of the most popular nicotine replacement products. As this story points out, the research on nicotine therapy has been evolving. Because of the strength of so many clinical trials, people assume that patches, gum and other nicotine products work, but this study indicates that under real world conditions, these medicines might actually not show much benefit. The story says, “In the past five years, the declines in adult smoking seen in previous years have stalled”. Jump starting those efforts is crucial giving the impact smoking has on population health. A Cochrane Report  in 2008 reported on trials involving more than 40,000 subjects and concluded that nicotine replacement therapy improves the likelihood of smoking cessation in the short term. Although many people stop smoking, the return to smoking within a year is common. This study looks at the long term benefits over a 5 year period in the real world. Although there are limitations to the study, the conclusions bring the relative value of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually into question.