A second study, released on Saturday, September 7 in The Lancet, found that e-cigarettes and nicotine patches offer comparable success in quitting. Researchers say the study is the first clinical trial to compare the two products and the “first ever trial to assess whether e-cigarettes are more or less effective than an established smoking cessation aid, nicotine patches, in helping smokers to quit.” In the trial, smokers in New Zealand were given a 13-week course of patches, nicotine e-cigarettes, or placebo e-cigarettes, which contained no nicotine. Findings indicated roughly that abstinence rates were similar – regardless of which of the three methods was used. The study also measured the safety of e-cigarettes and their appeal to smokers trying to quit. In a group of 300+ people over the 13-week period, the study found no statistically significant difference in adverse health effects between e-cigarettes and nicotine patches. And on the question of appeal, the study found participants in the e-cigarette groups (nicotine and no nicotine) were much more likely to recommend e-cigarettes to family or friends as a quit smoking aid than those in the nicotine patch group were likely to recommend nicotine patches. Despite these data reflecting the appeal of e-cigarettes, study authors raised a cautionary note. The leader of the research team, Associate Professor Chris Bullen, Director of the National Institute for Health Innovation at The University of Auckland in New Zealand: “Our study establishes a critical benchmark for e-cigarette performance compared to nicotine patches and placebo e-cigarettes, but there is still so much that is unknown about the effectiveness and long-term effects of e-cigarettes. Given the increasing popularity of these devices in many countries, and the accompanying regulatory uncertainty and inconsistency, larger, longer-term trials are urgently needed to establish whether these devices might be able to fulfil their potential as effective and popular smoking cessation aids.”
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 02:40:33 +0000
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