To the Editor.鈥�听
A pilot study that suggests that cigarette smoking by hospitalized psychiatric patients can be reduced through the use of a transdermal nicotine patch was performed at the Treatment Refractory Unit of the Veterans Administration Medical Center West Los Angeles.
Subjects and Methods.鈥�听
Three moderate smokers (one to two packs per day for at least ten years) gave informed consent for participation in the following single-blind study. In two separate seven-hour procedures, one week apart, 24 渭L of either a solution containing 30% nicotine base or water (the control) was applied to the nondominant forearm and covered by a 3-cm-square patch of polyethylene wrap, secured at the edges by surgical tape. This type of patch was used in a previous study of nicotine titration using a smoke-mixing apparatus.1The solutions were administered at 9 AM, and patients were provided with unlimited access to a standard popular