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Lack of adherence to smoking cessation medication regimens is assumed to play a significant role in limiting their effectiveness. This study aimed to assess evidence for this assumption.

A systematic search was conducted, supplemented by expert consultation, of papers reporting on randomized trials and observational studies examining the association between adherence to cessation medication and the success of quit attempts. To rule out reverse causality, only studies where adherence was assessed prior to relapse were included. Five studies met the inclusion criteria and results were extracted independently by two researchers. Heterogeneity between studies precluded a pooled analysis of the data.

Studies varied widely with regard to both the definition of adherence and outcome measures. The included studies only addressed adherence to nicotine replacement therapy. One …