Varenicline combined with counselling is effective for quitting tobacco long-term, with smokers maintaining continuous abstinence up to two years, research shows.

The study, the first to evaluate long-term effectiveness of the drug, suggested that those receiving the dual intervention — who smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day on average — were about six times more likely to quit than those who attempted to stop without any support.

Almost 30% of these patients, who had been hospitalised with a serious smoking-related illness, self-reported continuous abstinence two years after the therapy, compared with 19% receiving Quitline counselling alone.

The lead author, Associate Professor Kristin Carson-Chahhoud from the Australian Centre for Precision Health at the University of South Australia, said the findings showed that both treatment options were highly viable, compared with smoking cessation without support, which had a success rate of only 3-5%.