Despite recent research suggesting the popular stop smoking drug ‘varenicline’ increases the risk of self harm or depression, new findings show it presents no more a risk than other cessation products.

The findings by scientists at the University of Bristol were published in the British Medical Journal amidst concerns about the increase to suicidal behaviour, self harm and depression when taking the drug.

Researchers compared the risk of self harm when taking the recently introduced cessation product with the same risk associated with prescribed products bupropion and nicotine replacement therapy.

The study identified over 80,000 men and women prescribed a new course of smoking cessation products between September 2006 and May 2008 and found no evidence to suggest an increase risk of self harm, suicidal thoughts or depression for either varenicline or bupropin.

However, the authors of the study stated that ‘the limited power of the study means we cannot rule out either a halving or a twofold increased risk’.

They have called for further studies of the drug with a caution that ‘any risks must be balanced against the long-term health benefits of stopping smoking and the effectiveness of varenicline as a smoking cessation product’.

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