• November 5, 2024

Study finds vaping best way to quit smoking

 Study finds vaping best way to quit smoking

They keep coming. Another positive study concerning vaping has been completed. On. Jan. 30, The New England Journal of Medicine published a predominantly U.K.-based study that finds that “e-cigarettes [are] more effective for smoking cessation than nicotine-replacement therapy, when both products were accompanied by behavioral support.”

For the study, scientists randomly assigned adults attending the U.K. National Health Service stop-smoking services to either nicotine-replacement therapies (NRT) products of their choice, including product combinations or an electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) starter pack, with a recommendation to buy their own flavors and strengths of e-liquids. The treatment plans also included weekly behavioral support for a minimum of 4 weeks.

The researchers wanted test subjects to have sustained abstinence for 1 year, which was validated biochemically during the patient’s final visit. A total of 886 participants were involved. The 1-year abstinence rate was 18.0 percent in the ENDS group, according to the study, as compared with 9.9 percent in the NRT group.

Among subjects with 1-year abstinence, those in the ENDS group were more likely than those in the NRT group to use their assigned product at 52 weeks (80 percent [63 of 79 participants] vs. 9 percent [4 of 44 participants]), according to the study. Overall, throat or mouth irritation was reported more frequently in the e-cigarette group (65.3 percent, vs. 51.2 percent in the NRT group) and nausea more frequently in the nicotine-replacement group (37.9 percent, vs. 31.3 percent in the e-cigarette group).The researchers hail from Queen Mary University of London; King’s College London; London South Bank University, London; the University of York, York; Leicester City Council, Leicester; and the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA.