刊登在国际杂志The Lancet Respiratory Medicine上的一项研究报告中，来自爱丁堡大学等处的研究者指出，一种帮助吸烟者戒烟的高效药物或许并不会增加个体患心脏病发作及抑郁症的风险。药物瓦伦尼克林（戒必适）常用于帮助吸烟者戒烟，其是一种有效的戒烟药物，但此前有研究表明使用该药物的人群更易患心脏病发作。
而且有研究认为药物瓦伦尼克林和抑郁症、自残及自杀行为直接相关，这项研究中研究者首次研究了该药物的潜在副作用，而且研究者表示，相关研究证据并没有表明该药物对机体精神健康有负面作用，而且服用瓦伦尼克林也并不会增加个体患心脏病的风险。
文章中研究小组对英格兰超过15万名吸烟者的匿名健康信息进行分析研究，研究者给患者准备了瓦伦尼克林或其它的名为安非他酮的抗烟药物来帮助患者戒烟，同时也采用尼古丁替代疗法，比如药物贴片等来进行研究；随后研究者对患者追踪了6个月来评估疗法对患者的健康影响。
研究者发现，相比尼古丁替代疗法而言，服用瓦伦尼克林或安非他酮并不太可能会使得患者遭受心脏病发作，而且患者患抑郁症或自残的风险也并没有升高。Daniel Kotz教授指出，随着吸烟者每年持续吸烟，其寿命通常会减少3个月，而本文研究支持了药物瓦伦尼克林的使用可以作为一种有效的戒烟疗法的论断。
基于广泛的分析，研究者认为药物瓦伦尼克林对于吸烟者的心脏或精神健康并没有任何负面影响，而诸如FDA等美国监管部门也应当指出药物瓦伦尼克林的安全警告信息，从而减少其作为有效的戒烟疗法带来的不必要的限制。
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Quit-smoking drug not linked to heart disease or depression
A highly effective drug that helps smokers to quit does not increase their risk of heart attack and depression as was previously thought, research suggests.
Researchers who carried out the study say doctors can prescribe varenicline - also known as Champix or Chantix - more widely to help people stop smoking.
Varenicline is the most effective medication to help smokers quit but previous reports have suggested that users may be more likely to suffer a heart attack.
The drug has also been linked to depression, self-harm and suicide.
This latest research - which has for the first time simultaneously studied these potential side effects - supports recent studies that failed to find any evidence that varenicline has a negative effect on mental health. It also shows that taking the drug does not raise a person's risk of heart disease.
The team looked at anonymised health information from more than 150,000 smokers across England.
The patients had been prescribed either varenicline or another anti-smoking drug called bupropion to help them quit, or had used nicotine replacement therapy - such as patches, chewing gum or lozenges.
They were tracked for six months to assess any impact of the treatment on their health.
Researchers found that people taking either varenicline or buproprion were no more likely to suffer a heart attack than those using nicotine replacement therapy.
People were also not at higher risk of depression or self-harm, researchers say.
The study was led by researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Dusseldorf and is published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Researchers at Maastricht University, University College London and Harvard Medical School also contributed to the study. Data were provided by QResearch.