What was the exact duration and daily nicotine intake reported for gum users in the 1996 Eliasson et al. Circulation paper?
Executive summary
The 1996 Circulation paper by Eliasson et al. compared 20 long‑term users of nicotine gum with 20 matched nonusers and reported that long‑term gum use was associated with hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance [1]. The sources provided for this query (Circulation abstract and PubMed entry) describe the study population and findings but do not specify, in the accessible snippets, the exact duration of “long‑term” use or the precise daily nicotine intake reported for the gum users in that paper [1] [2].
1. What Eliasson et al. actually reported on the cohort and outcomes
Eliasson and colleagues examined insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular risk markers in 20 healthy, nonobese, middle‑aged men who were described as long‑term users of nicotine‑containing chewing gum compared with 20 matched controls, and they concluded that long‑term gum use was associated with insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia [1]. The PubMed entry confirms the study citation and its publication in Circulation in 1996 but the accessible abstract and indexing entry in the material supplied do not reproduce numeric details about duration of use or quantified daily nicotine intake for those gum users [2].
2. What the available reporting does not disclose about exact duration and dose
Neither the Circulation summary excerpt provided nor the PubMed abstract snippet included in the search results gives a numeric “years of use” value or a milligram/day nicotine estimate for the Eliasson gum users; the study is repeatedly characterized simply as examining “long‑term” use without the specific duration or reported per‑day nicotine dose appearing in the provided extracts [1] [2]. Because the supplied sources do not include the full manuscript text or a table specifying these exposure metrics, the exact duration and daily nicotine intake as reported in the original paper cannot be stated from the current materials [2].
3. Context from related nicotine‑gum pharmacology and usage studies
Independent pharmacology and clinical studies give context on plausible gum use patterns: Benowitz and colleagues and other investigators studying nicotine polacrilex gum have reported experimental protocols using up to 12 pieces per day and have shown that extraction from gum is incomplete and variable, with systemic nicotine doses lower and absorption slower than smoking [3] [4] [5]. Reviews and clinical references note marketed nicotine‑gum regimens and delivery ranges that commonly produce roughly 7–22 mg of nicotine per 24 hours depending on product strength and user behavior, but these are product/regimen ranges and not specific measurements from the Eliasson cohort [6].
4. Alternative interpretations, limitations, and next steps for verification
It remains possible that the full Circulation article text or tables specify duration (for example, years of gum use) and the daily nicotine amounts consumed by participants, but those details are not present in the supplied snippets and secondary summaries, so asserting exact figures from Eliasson et al. would require consulting the full printed article or journal PDF [1] [2]. For readers seeking definitive numbers, the most direct path is to retrieve the full Circulation 1996 paper (DOI 10.1161/01.CIR.94.5.878) or institutional access to the journal, where methods and participant characteristics — including any reported years of use or self‑reported pieces per day and calculated nicotine intake — would be documented [2].