United States
Two new studies looking at whether e-cigarettes help smokers quit tobacco have found that while some of them can, it depends on the type and how often it is used. The two studies were based on a survey of around 1,500 smokers in Britain in December 2012, followed up one year later.
The research, hailed by experts, suggests daily use of so-called “tank” e-cigarettes, designed to be refilled with nicotine-containing liquids, is most likely to help smokers quit. “Tank” models look quite different and have refillable containers of nicotine “e-liquid”.
Many experts think e-cigarettes, which heat nicotine-laced liquid into an inhalable vapor, are a lower-risk alternative to smoking, but their use and safety are still questioned.
Researchers who conducted the two new studies, published in the journal Addiction and Nicotine & Tobacco, said they show that smokers wanting to use e-cigarettes to quit should use them daily and try the “tank” kind.
“Our research indicates that daily use of tank models that can be refilled with liquid may give smokers a better chance of quitting smoking,” said Ann McNeill, a professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London who was involved in both studies, told reporters.
Dr Leonie Brose, lead author of the first study, from the IoPPN at King’s College London, said: “E-cigarettes are still a relatively new product, so this study adds important information about what happens when they are used alongside tobacco cigarettes. We already know that using an e-cigarette in an attempt to quit smoking increases the chances of success compared to quitting without any support. This study did not test how helpful they are as quitting aids… [b]ut it is encouraging to see that even then, regular e-cigarette use was linked to reduced numbers of lethal cigarettes smoked and increased attempts to quit smoking in the following year.”
The second study extended this by looking at not only how often e-cigarettes were used but also what types were used, measured for the first time at follow up in 2013.