The controversial new electronic cigarettes may be better than other aids, such as patches, in helping smokers give up, researchers report today.
Researchers in New Zealand concluded that e-cigarettes are comparable with patches as a quitting aid.
They also found no indication of safety problems from the cigarettes.
The findings, published in The Lancet, are likely to prove a boost to the new e-cigarette industry. They were also being revealed at the conference of the European Respiratory Society today.
Advisers, such as the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, have been reluctant to back them as aids to giving up in the absence of evidence. However in the UK, health workers are told not to discourage smokers from switching to e-cigarettes.
Researcher Professor Chris Bullen, of the University of Auckland, said smokers were more enthusiastic about using e-cigarettes than patches.
He said: "While our results don’t show any clear-cut differences between e-cigarettes and patches in terms of quit success after six months, it certainly seems that e-cigarettes were more effective in helping smokers who didn’t quit to cut down."
But the findings also show that ex-smokers are more likely to continue using e-cigarettes than patches – raising new questions about the impact of e-cigarettes becoming a lifestyle alternative to cigarettes.
Some 657 smokers took part in the study and were asked to use patches or e-cigarettes – but half of these were placebos without nicotine.
The researchers found that after six months about a third of smokers were still using their e-cigarettes – whether or not they contained nicotine.
Writing in the journal, Professor Peter Hajek, of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary, University of London, UK, says: "E-cigarettes are also more attractive than patches to many smokers, and can be accessed in most countries without the restrictions around medicines that apply to nicotine replacement therapy or the costly involvement of health professionals.
"These advantages suggest that e-cigarettes have the potential to increase rates of smoking cessation and reduce costs to quitters and to health services."*
Lancet 8 September 2013 [abstract]
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