“Vaping” can help traditional cigarette smokers kick the habit or at least cut down, a study has found.British and New Zealand researchers behind the Cochrane Library review say the results are encouraging but that more studies are needed.
Electronic cigarettes work by vaporising a solution that usually contains nicotine.
The review drew on data from 662 smokers across two randomised trials, and found that about 9% of those who used electronic cigarettes were able to quit smoking by the one-year mark — more than twice the rate of those using nicotine-free placebo devices.
Among people who did not quit, 36% of those smoking e-cigarettes cut down on the number of cigarettes they were smoking by half, while 28% of those using the placebo devices were able to halve their cigarette consumption.
Only one of the two trials compared nicotine patches with e-cigarettes, and found their efficacy was similar.
One of the review’s authors, clinical psychology professor Peter Hajek, said that his team was limited by the small number of trials already available and the sample sizes in each.
Prof Hajek said authorities appeared wary of e-cigarettes and that this could have slowed down research efforts.
“[For example] we are running a trial where we wanted to have three sites: one in Spain, one in the Czech Republic and one in Queen Mary (University of London), and the Spanish ethics committee put a stop to it, saying you can’t give electronic cigarettes to smokers, without giving any explanation.”
Source: Sophie Tarr, Irish Examiner, 17/12/14
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