E-cigs aid quitting

Ireland’s Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) says that increased uptake of electronic cigarettes as an aid to quitting smoking would increase the number of people who successfully quit and would be cost-effective, according to a story by Dara Gantly for the Irish Medical Times.

However, it said that this would be the case only if the currently available evidence on the effectiveness of electronic cigarettes was confirmed by further studies.

And it said that electronic cigarettes were ‘unlikely to be harmless’.

HIQA yesterday started a national public consultation on a draft health technology assessment (HTA) of smoking cessation interventions – the first of its kind in the EU to examine the cost-effectiveness of electronic cigarettes.

According to HIQA’s director of health technology assessment Dr Máirín Ryan, the HTA found a high level of uncertainty surrounding both the clinical and cost-effectiveness of electronic cigarettes. “While the long-term effects of using e-cigarettes have not yet been established, data from Healthy Ireland reveals that 29 per cent of smokers currently use e-cigarettes as an aid to quitting smoking.

“HIQA’s analysis shows that increased uptake of e-cigarettes as an aid to quitting would increase the number of people who successfully quit compared with the existing situation in Ireland and would be cost-effective, provided that the currently available evidence on their effectiveness is confirmed by further studies,” she added.

The public consultation seeking feedback on the report will remain open until February 3.

Following this, a final report will be prepared for consideration by the HIQA Board, before being submitted to the Minister for Health and the Health Service Executive.

The report, along with details on how to take part in the consultation, is at: www.hiqa.ie.