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What are the effects of varenicline compared with nicotine replacement therapy on long-term smoking cessation and clinically important outcomes?
- Neil Davies
- Gemma Taylor
- Amy Taylor
- Kyla Thomas
- Frank Windmeijer
- Richard Martin
- Marcus Munafo
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Category: Project
Description: In this project we will investigate the effects of varenicline compared to nicotine replacement therapies on: (1) long-term smoking cessation and whether these effects differ by area level deprivation; and (2) the following clinically-important outcomes: rate of general practice and hospital attendance; all-cause mortality and death due to diseases of the respiratory system and cardiovascular disease; and a primary care diagnosis of respiratory illness, myocardial infarction or depression and anxiety. The study is based on a cohort of patients prescribed these smoking cessation medications from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). We will use three methods to overcome confounding: multivariable adjusted Cox regression, propensity score matched Cox regression, and instrumental variable regression. The total expected sample size for analysis will be at least 180 000. Follow-up will end with the earliest of either an ‘event’ or censoring due to the end of registration or death.