Quitting with e-cigarettes

For those wanting to quit smoking, switching to electronic cigarettes may offer better odds of success than using nicotine patches, lozenges or gum, according to a HealthDay story by Alan Mozes citing new research.

This finding reportedly derives from a year-long study that tracked about 120 British smokers enrolled in a National Health Service smoking cessation program. Seventy-nine smokers were enrolled in an ‘e-cig group’ and given a refillable e-cigarette to use. The remaining 44 smokers were given a three-month supply of any approved nicotine replacement product they wanted.

“In our study, smokers used e-cigarettes much like other nicotine replacement treatments,” said study author Dunja Przulj, PhD, who is a research health psychologist with the Health and Lifestyles Research Unit at Queen Mary University of London. “They were asked to set a ‘quit day,’ and advised to use their e-cigarette regularly throughout the day, and whenever they felt they needed it. Everyone was encouraged to try and avoid smoking any normal cigarettes.”

The researchers found that while nearly 10 percent of the nicotine replacement group were not smoking traditional cigarettes a year later, that figure was 18 percent among those using e-cigarettes.

The report was published online on January 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research and Cancer Research UK.

A Reuters story by Kate Kelland that seems to be based on the same study, or perhaps a related study, was carried out with 886 participants.