Category: Research

  • Study Finds E-Cigarettes as Best Way to Quit Smoking

    Study Finds E-Cigarettes as Best Way to Quit Smoking

    Photo: Milkos | Dreamstime

    E-cigarettes showed considerable promise as a smoking-cessation aid during a study in the U.K. that was recently published by Reed Wellbeing.

    The health and lifestyle service engaged in a one-year pilot from February 2019 to February 2020 to independently assess the impact of directly supplying e-cigarettes as a form of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to up to 200 participants though the One You Haringey stop-smoking service.

    Participants were given a choice between NRT, e-cigarettes or Champix. Those selecting e-cigarettes were provided with a device and pods free of charge and were supported to quit in line with treatment guidelines from the U.K. National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training.

    E-cigarettes outperformed both NRT and Champix in first-attempt quits during the trial. The devices achieved a 93 quit rate when used alone and a 72 percent quit rate when combined with NRT. NRT use resulted in a 49 percent quit rate and Champix achieved a quit rate of 57 percent.

    Twelve weeks after the trail, 100 percent of e-cigarette users were still refraining from smoking, compared with 96 percent of participants who used e-cigarettes and NRT, 84 percent of those who used NRT and 91 percent of Champix users.

  • New Study Revives Discredited “Gateway” Theory

    New Study Revives Discredited “Gateway” Theory

    Adolescent cigarette smoking has declined over the past several decades, e-cigarette use presents a new risk for nicotine use disorder, according to a new study. Published Nov. 9 in the journal Pediatrics, the new research suggests that e-cigarette use is associated with a higher risk of cigarette smoking among adolescents who had no prior intention of taking up conventional smoking.CosmicFog Lab-1

    “Research is showing us that adolescent e-cigarette users who progress to cigarette smoking are not simply those who would have ended up smoking cigarette anyway,” says Olusegun Owotomo, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., the study’s lead author and a pediatric resident at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. “Our study shows that e-cigarettes can predispose adolescents to cigarette smoking, even when they have no prior intentions to do so.”

    The study uses data collected by the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, an NIH and FDA collaborative nationally representative prospective cohort study of tobacco use, from 2014-2016. A more recent PATH study has shown the rate of youth e-cigarette use is declining.

    Among adolescents who did not intend to smoke cigarettes in the future, those who used e-cigarettes were more than four times more likely to start smoking cigarettes one year later compared to those who did not use e-cigarettes.

  • Fewer Young Americans Using E-Cigarettes

    Fewer Young Americans Using E-Cigarettes

    Photo: Aliaksandr Barouski – Dreamstime.com

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released new data from the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) showing a decline in youth use of e-cigarettes but an increase in use of disposable products.

    Compared to 2019, the number of youth using e-cigarettes is down 1.8 million. However, the number of youth using disposable e-cigarettes has risen: 26.5 percent of high school users are using disposables, up from 2.4 percent in 2019, and 15.2 percent of middle school users are using disposables, up from 3 percent last year.

    The use of flavored products is also high—more than eight out of 10 surveyed youth reported using flavored products. Fruit, mint, candy and menthol were the most commonly reported.

    This is the first year the NYTS has distinguished between mint and menthol. Previously, products were identified in the survey as “mint/menthol.”

    “After two years of disturbing increases in youth e-cigarette use, we are encouraged by the overall significant decline reported in 2020,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn. “This is good news; however, the FDA remains very concerned about the 3.6 million U.S. youth who currently use e-cigarettes and we acknowledge there is work that still needs to be done to curb youth use”

  • Study: COPD Smokers Benefit by Switching to Vaping

    Study: COPD Smokers Benefit by Switching to Vaping

    A recent study has found that smokers with COPD who switched to vaping ameliorate some harm associated with smoking and benefits persist long term. “COPD smokers who switched to e-cigarettes: health outcomes at 5-year follow up,” states that the significant reductions in toxic exposures from substituting electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) for combustible cigarette consumption is expected to bring about substantial health gains.

    “[ENDS] as a THR strategy may save more lives more swiftly than possible previously,” wrote researchers. ““However, the odds of completely abstaining from conventional cigarettes for [ENDS] users are variable. Most studies suggesting low quit rates for [ENDS] have investigated earlier poor quality vaping products with inadequate nicotine delivery profile. On the contrary, more recent (and better designed) randomised controlled trials (RCTs) using high-quality vaping products are now showing remarkable quit rates – even compared with NRTs.”

    Of the survey’s 1190 participants, 75.7 percent stated that they had benefits in respiratory symptoms after switching and less than 1 percent reported a worsening of systems. Additionally, the study found a marked reduction in yearly exacerbations of COPD and overall health improvements. A 3-year follow-up confirmed that these improvements persisted long term.

    The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) says it believes the medical community must review these types of studies to better understand vaping as harm reduction and educate their patients on the true relative risk of vapour products.

    “Over the last several years, the medical community has stated that the risks of vaping were largely unknown,” said Darryl Tempest, Executive Director of the CVA. “Fortunately, this is no longer the case. There is now a body of research to support vaping as less harmful than smoking and more effective than nicotine replacement therapy products. The CVA urges health professionals to review the science and encourage patients to reduce their harm through vaping.”