E-cigarettes were just as effective as the gold-standard pharmaceutical drug varenicline, also known as Chantix, in helping people quit smoking, according to a clinical trial published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.
A total of 458 daily smokers who were willing to quit were randomly assigned to one of three groups for a 12-week trial.
One group received a nicotine-containing e-cigarette and placebo tablets, another group received varenicline and a nicotine-free e-cigarette, and the third group received a placebo tablet and a nicotine-free e-cigarette. All three groups also received extensive tobacco cessation counseling.
After 26 weeks, approximately the same percentage of participants using varenicline and e-cigarettes, 43.8 percent and 40.4 percent respectively, had stopped smoking.
The difference in quit rates between the two groups was not statistically significant.
The JAMA study is the first published randomized controlled trial to directly compare varenicline to e-cigarettes.
Previous studies have shown that e-cigarettes can help adults quit smoking. However, most of these studies have compared e-cigarettes either to a placebo or to nicotine replacement therapy, such as patches and lozenges, which help smokers manage their withdrawal symptoms.