A NEWLY updated Cochrane review – widely considered as the benchmark for evidence-based healthcare – has added to growing evidence that using e-cigarettes with nicotine – like vape – can help smokers kick the habit.
The 2021 Cochrane review on electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation which includes 61 studies involving 16,759 adults in 14 countries across five continents found that e-cigarettes with nicotine e-liquid are more effective in helping people quit smoking than other alternatives.
These alternatives include nicotine replacement therapy such as patches or gum, nicotine-free e-cigarettes, behavioural support, varenicline, a medicine to help people stop smoking, and zero support for stopping smoking.
Led by Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, a director at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, the review yielded encouraging results for those looking to vaping as a way to stop smoking which kills some eight million people annually.
According to the review, more people were likely to stop smoking for at least six months if they used e-cigarettes with nicotine e-liquid compared to nicotine replacement therapy (four studies; 1,924 people), nicotine‐free e‐cigarettes (five studies; 1,447 people) or with/without behavioural support (six studies, 2,886 people).
The review estimates that e-cigarettes with nicotine e-liquid can help up to 14 in 100 people to stop smoking completely compared with only six in 100 people using nicotine‐replacement therapy and seven in 100 using nicotine‐free e‐cigarettes.
A mere four in 100 people who try to quit smoking with or without behavioural support are likely to succeed.
Speaking at the Virtual 2021 E-Cigarette Summit UK in December, Hartmann-Boyce revealed that there has been more consistent evidence that e-cigarettes with nicotine e-liquid appear to be helping people quit smoking.
She further voiced concern that public opinion against vaping was growing despite the evidence indicating that e-cigarettes – while not risk-free – are considerably less harmful than smoking and that they can help people transition away from smoking.
Hartmann-Boyce said there was a need for people to stay focused on new evidence and not look at vaping in isolation.
“We need to also be talking about the harms from smoking, the harms from combustible tobacco use. We would not be talking about e-cigarettes so much if we didn’t have this looming in the background,” she pointed out.
“We’re in a situation where smoking is killing more people than COVID-19 which is unbelievable when you think about it that still these products are being sold.
“What we need to do is when we talk about e-cigarettes and particularly anytime we’re talking about new evidence about e-cigarettes, we need to frame that against the backdrop of combustible tobacco.”
Cheah Chlor Sooi – Focus Malaysia – 2022-02-23.
Want More Investigative Content?
