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.