While many studies hope to examine the effective, tolerability, and safety of e-cigs to help people who smoke combustible cigarettes achieve long-term smoking abstinence, research from the Cochrane review showed evidence to support that these devices lead to higher quit rates when compared to other stop smoking aids. This evidence supports that vapes need to continue being accessible to the public and used to support smoking cessation. Let’s take a look by reading about the study and results below.
The study
A Cochrane report, titled “Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation” found that e-cig devices are more effective at helping people quit smoking in comparison to using other nicotine replacement therapies (NRTS) such as lozenges, patches, or gum.
The report compiled data from 61 completed studies, representing 16,759 participants. Five of the 61 included studies were new to this review update.
What were the results?
Using stats to support the data, this study found that while six in 100 people successfully quit using NRTs, eight in 12 did so using vapes.
Jaime Hartmann-Boyce, an associate professor at the University of Oxford and author of the Cochrane report, believes there are misunderstandings surrounding vapes. This misinformation discourages the public health community from using these stop smoking aids.
“More scientific evidence keeps emerging and providing further clarity,” he explains. “With support from Cancer Research UK…we identify and combine the strongest evidence from the most reliable studies currently available…this has given us high-certainty evidence that e-cigarettes are even more effective at helping people to quit than traditional nicotine replacement therapies.”
The use of e-cigs can help to decrease smoking rates
Countries that have access to stop smoking aids like e-cigs have seen a significant drop in conventional cigarette sales—even those with a huge smoking culture. For example, access to e-cigs in Japan is associated with a 35% drop in tobacco use with similar patterns showing in the UK and Sweden. The UK has achieved the lowest smoking rates ever recorded through endorsing e-cig products, while Sweden has also embraced these devices as safe alternatives to combustible cigarettes and is on-track to becoming Europe’s first smoke-free country.
Do you think there needs to be greater access to e-cigs to promote a smoke-free environment? Drop a comment below to let us know.
