Can the Use of Nicotine Patches Cause Blood Clots?
Mary Pickett, M.D., is a lecturer for Harvard Medical School and an assistant professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, OR. At OHSU, she practices general internal medicine and teaches medical residents and students.
Question:
Can the use of nicotine patches cause blood clots?
Answer:
Blood clots occur more often in people who smoke, but it is not clear which chemical pollutant in cigarette smoke causes the extra clot risk.
Blood clots are probably not a major side effect of nicotine patches or other forms of nicotine replacement. If blood clots occurred from nicotine, you would expect to see more leg clots, more heart attacks and more strokes in ex-smokers who use nicotine replacement, compared with ex-smokers who do not use it. As it turns out, there have only been a few reports of people developing a stroke or a new heart attack right after starting a usual dose of the patch, and the timing of these events may have been a coincidence.
You should not smoke cigarettes at the same time that you are using nicotine replacement. Doctors worry that you might cause a heart attack if you get too much nicotine at once, because nicotine can raise blood pressure and put extra stress on the heart.
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