While smoking combustible cigarettes has been known to be a bad health habit for years, the numerous studies stacking up have motivated many long-time smokers to look for ways to quit their usage. Although many physicians fixate on nicotine replacement therapies such as lozenges, gum, and the patch, a recent study conducted by the charity, Cancer Research UK, is affirming that e-cigs double the quit rate in comparison to other nicotine supplements. So, let’s dive into the results they found.
The study
The article, published in the journal, Addiction in late May 2014, addressed the funded research conducted by the charity, Cancer Research UK and found that e-cigs have doubled combustible quit successes across the country. Upon analyzing the success rates of several common stop-smoking methods, it was identified that ex-smokers who used e-cig starter kits were twice as likely to stop smoking for good. The study collected the data and surveyed almost 19,000 people over a 12-year-period and successful quitters were defined as those who said they were no longer smoking.
Researchers also recorded a wide range of factors that might influence the data collected on success rates for quitting, which included age, social level, degree and length of combustible cigarette addiction, previous attempts to quit, and whether the quitting process was a gradual or abrupt shift.
What was the result?
The report concluded that people using e-cig starter kits were 95% more likely to declare their success than those trying to quit without any help from stop-smoking aids.
Peter Hajek, director of the tobacco dependence research unit at Britain’s Queen Mary University of London, said the study yielded two key findings of e-cig starter kits:
“They help smokers quit at least as much as stop-smoking medications and they are used by many more smokers. This means they generate many more quitters and do this at no cost to the NHS (National Health Service).”
Did you try any other nicotine replacement therapies before or along with your e-cig? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.
