Areas for further research

• Development of pharmacotherapies based on a basic science understanding of the effects of nicotine and the nicotinic receptor.
• Development of more precise behavioural accounts of smoking that suggest more specific behavioural interventions.
• Identify elements of behavioural interventions that will enhance effectiveness.
• Find ways of enabling healthcare professionals to deliver routine opportunistic advice to stop smoking more often.
• Investigate the effectiveness of combining NRT and non-nicotine pharmacotherapies.
• Investigate the relative efficacy of NRT and varenicline.
• Investigate tailoring of pharmacotherapies to smoker characteristics.
• Investigate long-term use of pharmacotherapies to prevent relapse to smoking.
• Investigate effect of continuing pharmacological or behavioural treatment after a lapse to prevent relapse.
• Investigate use of NRT in pregnancy.
• Investigate whether use of NRT during temporary abstinence increases or decreases motivation to quit.
• Investigate long-term use of NRT or other pharmacotherapies as a harm reduction strategy to reduce the amount smoked.
• Investigate nicotine vaccines.
• Investigate sensory replacement via low-nicotine cigarettes and other methods.
• Develop and test interventions for adolescent smokers.
• Find ways of improving access to effective interventions.
• Identify organizational features of healthcare systems that support the delivery of appropriate interventions.
• Investigate repeated interventions for relapsers.
• Investigate treatment of smokers with co-morbidities (psychiatric illness, other chemical dependencies).
• Investigate proactive methods to prompt more smokers to make a quit attempt (e.g. phone calls or mailings).
• Investigate impact of healthcare reimbursement for smoking cessation intervention.
• Investigate use of smokeless tobacco as a treatment for smoking cessation.