Implications for future research
Numerous clinical trials and systematic reviews have shown that drugs are routinely used to promote smoking cessation. Such drugs generally have the characteristics of treating addictive behaviors. That is, they have a positive or negative effect on the human nervous system. Based on the present research and other existing evidence, the following suggestions for future research can be made. The first pertains to the definition of the participants’ characteristics. Populations with diverse characteristics, such as differences in age, sex, and health conditions, may have different treatment outcomes from the same experimental design. Smokers with different characteristics may foreseeably have different responses to the same drugs, which has the potential to confound the quality of research evidence. Therefore, future research should consider the potential impact of population characteristics on trials.
Another future research direction is adverse reactions to drug use. The effectiveness of drug treatments on the smoking cessation rate should not be the only focus, but the safety risks of the drugs for different populations should also be emphasized. Even if a certain drug has a positive effect on smoking cessation, it should not be considered as a treatment option if it has obvious detrimental effects on the body. At the same time, the dosage, frequency, and length of use of the drug should also be considered. Finding an appropriate drug intake rate not only eliminates possible harm to the body but also clarifies the intervention’s effects. Therefore, it is necessary to make an accurate assessment of the dosage and safety risks of drugs in future research.