The antidepressant bupropion (Wellbutrin or Zyban) is used to help people stop smoking. A group of researchers in San Francisco tried out the drug.

What the researchers wanted to know: Does adding bupropion to the regular strategy–a nicotine patch and counseling–help smokers quit?

What they did: About 250 smokers, including just 34 women and a lot of veterans, were in the study. Everyone got a two-month supply of nicotine patches and cognitive-behavioral counseling. Half of the people were randomly assigned to take bupropion and half to take a placebo pill. Of course, no one knew who was taking which pill. They took their medicine for seven weeks; researchers followed up on them for a year to find out whether they'd managed to quit.

What they found: People taking bupropion had fewer withdrawal symptoms in the first couple of months after they quit, but that advantage disappeared later and bupropion didn't meet the goal of helping people quit. Smokers on bupropion were no more likely to quit than people taking the placebo. By a year later, all but about a third of the patients were smoking.

What the study means to you: Maybe bupropion won't help everyone kick the habit.

Caveats: This is a relatively small study, and the participants were mostly middle-aged white male veterans. If you're not a middle-aged white male veteran, bupropion might work differently.

Find out more: Bupropion, from the National Library of Medicine: www.nlm.nih.gov

Read the article: Simon, J.A., Duncan, C., Carmody, T.P., and E.S. Hudes. "Bupropion for Smoking Cessation: A Randomized Trial." Archives of Internal Medicine. Sept. 13, 2004, Vol. 164, pp. 1797-1803.

Abstract online: http://archinte.ama-assn.org