Almost twice as many people who used e-cigarettes to help them quit smoking remained abstinent from tobacco at one year, compared with those using nicotine-replacement therapy, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. But the study also found 80% of people using e-cigarettes were still using them at one year, while only 9% of the nicotine-replacement group were still using that product.
Ohio Academy of Family Physicians Past President Tom Houston, MD, of Dublin, OH, past chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians Commission on Health of the Public and Science and Smoking Cessation Advisory Committee, told AAFP News that overall, he thought the study was well designed and conducted.
“The electronic-cigarette arm, however, did not mimic the way these devices are usually used by smokers in quit attempts — the counseling that accompanied the e-cigarettes in the study is not a part of real-world quit attempts with e-cigarettes.”
And although the researchers positively touted that 80% of participants in the e-cigarette group continued e-cigarette use at one year, Dr. Houston said this might not be great news.
“That is actually concerning, given that nicotine addiction was perpetuated, and the safety of e-cigarettes in such situations is not known,” he said. “We don’t know enough about the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes to say that they are safe, and there have been studies pointing out the potential cardiac and pulmonary risks, for example.”
When compared to combustible cigarettes, Dr. Houston said that e-cigarettes have fewer toxic components/chemicals, so there may be a degree of “harm reduction,” adding that FDA-mandated safety studies are needed to more clearly define the safety of e-cigarettes as a cessation tool.
Read the entire article on the AAFP website.