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Many patients with schizophrenia smoke cigarettes, but many treatment facilities now ban smoking. Schizophrenia patients who smoke face this additional stressor when admitted to smoke-free hospitals. This double-blind, randomized, controlled trial of nicotine replacement therapy involved 40 adult smokers with schizophrenia and at least some agitation who were admitted to a smoke-free psychiatric emergency unit.
The patients received nicotine (21 mg) or placebo patches plus their ongoing antipsychotic medications or newly administered oral or intramuscular olanzapine (5 or 10 mg) or intramuscular haloperidol (5 mg). Compared with placebo, nicotine was associated with 33% less agitation at 4 hours and 23% less agitation at 24 hours. The interv…