The findings from a randomized study of British adults were published last month in the UK’s New England Journal of Medicine. Conclusions drawn from the research indicate that when coupled with targeted one-on-one behavior therapy, e-cigarettes are significantly more effective in helping adults quit smoking that traditional methods like the patch or nicotine gum.
Lead researcher Peter Hajek from Queen Mary University of London described the results of the e-cigarette study in a statement, calling the devices, “almost twice as effective as the ‘gold standard’ combination of nicotine replacement products.” Many health professionals have been reticent in definitively claiming the efficacy of e-cigarettes as a proven quitting smoking method principally because of the lack of research surrounding this claim. Despite e-cig activists and public support of easing or blocking legislation going into effect to regulate the industry.
There are some US scientists who feel it’s too soon to draw such bold conclusions from the study rightly pointing out that there is still no body of research around the long-term health effects of these trendy alternatives.
However, the UK is unfettered by such reservations and are hailing the study as a win for e-cig advocates hoping the results will, “reassure policymakers and health professionals.”
“We need to help as many people as possible to give themselves the best chance of success by using aids like e-cigarettes each time they try to stop smoking,” Oxford professor of behavioral medicine, Paul Aveyard, said in a response to the study.
In a nutshell, the study looked at almost 900 UK smokers randomly assigned to receive a traditional nicotine replacement for three months or an e-cigarette starter pack. Both groups received weekly one-on-one behavioral counseling for four weeks and were biochemically tested at the end of the year to verify they had stopped smoking.
The one-year abstinence rate showed that 18% (79 people) of the e-cigarette group participants versus about 10% (44 people) in the traditional nicotine-replacement group were more likely not to have smoked traditional cigarettes. They also had less coughing and phlegm production at the end of a year and reported less severe urges to smoke than those on traditional nicotine replacement.
