While overall medication adherence reached an average of 77%, there were significant differences in rates of use of the different medications. Bupropion and the nicotine patch had the highest use rates, followed by the two combinations and the nicotine lozenge had the lowest use rates. These findings suggest that smokers are especially unlikely to use prn medications adherently (i.e., a recommendation of 9 lozenges per day). This is consistent with other literature that suggests an inverse relation between number of doses prescribed and medication adherence40 and consistent with research showing a direct positive relation between medication adherence and cessation outcome.41–46
