Grant: Project Grant

Quitting smoking is one of the best ways to improve health and reduce risk of death and disability from cancer and heart and lung diseases. Currently, varenicline is the most effective medication to help quit smoking, however, it does not work well for everyone. To improve quitting success and overall health, combining varenicline with a brain stimulation technique called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), may be an effective treatment option. tDCS non-surgically gives small amounts of electricity to the brain, and our previous small study showed promising results combining tDCS and varenicline for smoking treatment. In this proposed study, we will expand on these results with 3 main goals: 1) to determine how effective the combination of tDCS and varenicline is compared to fake (sham) tDCS and varenicline; 2) to determine how effective tDCS is in maintaining quit success over time; and 3) to determine the safety profile of combined tDCS and varenicline. We will ask 160 adults who smoke daily to participate at our Toronto-based clinic. We will give 12 weeks of active tDCS plus varenicline to 80 people and fake tDCS plus varenicline to the other 80 people. People will not know which group they are in. During the study, we will ask questions about smoking habits, behaviours, and treatment side effects, and we will assess smoking behaviour at the end of treatment and at 6-month and 12-month follow-up visits. Our previous small study showed that combining tDCS and varenicline doubled quit success compared to varenicline alone. We expect to find similar results in our proposed study, and given that one in every two smokers will die of a tobacco-related illness, new highly effective treatments for smoking can have a significant impact on the health of Canadians. tDCS and varenicline are inexpensive and may be an effective way for people to quit smoking, increasing their chances of having a longer and healthier life.