People living with HIV often face extra hurdles when trying to quit smoking. Some also struggle with opioid use. This new analysis looked at a specific group of 97 people in St. Petersburg, Russia. They were HIV positive, smoked daily, used alcohol heavily, and used opioids at the start of the study. The researchers wanted to see if two types of nicotine medicines helped reduce opioid use.
The two main medicines were varenicline and cytisine. These are nicotinic partial agonists. They work by gently activating nicotine receptors in the brain. The other group used nicotine replacement therapy, like patches or gum. The study tracked self-reported opioid use over one, three, six, or twelve months.
The results showed no significant difference in opioid use between the two groups. People taking the nicotinic partial agonists did not use less opioids than those using nicotine replacement therapy. The study also tracked other health markers like CD4 counts and alcohol consumption, but the main focus was on opioid habits. Safety signals were not reported in this specific analysis.
This finding comes from a secondary analysis of a larger parent trial. The conclusions apply only to the subgroup of patients who used opioids at the start. Clinicians should consider these nicotinic partial agonists as part of a broader treatment approach for nicotine use in this specific population.
