Nicotine Vaping Found to be More Successful in Helping Cigarette Smokers Quit

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Jamie Hartmann-Boyce

A new review of research has found e-cigarettes containing nicotine are more effective in helping people quit smoking than other nicotine replacement therapies, such as gum or patches.

Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management Jamie Hartmann-Boyce is the senior author of the latest review, published by the non-profit Cochrane.

The evidence suggests those looking to give up cigarettes had a better success rate using nicotine vapes than the other methods, also including e-cigarettes without nicotine or behavioral support, or no support at all. Overall, using the nicotine devices produced four more quitters per 100 than treatments such as gum or patches.

“We have very strong evidence that regulated nicotine e-cigarettes are substantially less harmful than smoking,” Hartmann-Boyce, said. “Based on the consistency of the findings here, it’s clear that they are a proven and viable option for people wishing to quit traditional cigarettes.”

Hartmann-Boyce points out vaping is not totally risk free. She said people considering using e-cigarettes to help stop smoking should be sure to use devices whose safety has been reviewed, such as those authorized by the federal Food and Drug Administration, while avoiding others on the market that could cause negative side effects, such as lung damage.

“The e-cigarettes tested in these studies are not like the vapes that you hear horror stories about, that a teenager might be trying in the basement at a party that their friend mixed,” she said. “These are devices that contain nicotine and have gone through ethical approval to be used in these studies.”

Many people are concerned that, by switching from smoking to vaping, they may be replacing one addiction with another. Hartmann-Boyce added that vaping to quit smoking can be viewed as a step toward quitting nicotine all together.

“It doesn’t need to be thought of as a permanent solution,” she said. “You can transition from smoking to vaping, and then when you feel confident you’re not going to relapse to smoking, you can then quit vaping as well. It might be that that’s an off ramp for you.”

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death, resulting in more than seven million deaths per year, including 1.6 million non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke, according to the World Health Organization.

The analysis, part of an ongoing living systematic review that is updated as new evidence becomes available, examined 80 randomized controlled trials involving 29,861 participants, nine of which were new to this update.