In Clinical

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

A group of experts gathered in London recently to debate the role e-cigarettes can play in helping people cut back or stop smoking. Clinical editor Mark Greener reports

E-CIGARETTES reduce the harm caused by smoking by at least 95 per cent, experts agreed during a recent ecigarette summit held in London €“ and there is little evidence that vaping is a gateway to tobacco use or that the devices are widely used by children.

However the popularity of e-cigarettes may already be beginning to plateau, possibly as a result of concerns being raised over their safety.

E-cigarettes are now the most popular smoking cessation aid, Robert West, professor of health psychology at University College London and director of tobacco studies at Cancer Research UK, told the summit.

According to the Smoking Toolkit Study (STS), which each month interviews a new sample of about 1,800 people in England aged at least 16 years, 28.5 per cent of smokers used e-cigarettes in their last quit attempt, compared to 16.7 per cent using OTC NRT. Varenicline (6.9 per cent), prescription NRT (4.9 per cent) and behavioural support (2.1 per cent) were less popular.

€There has been an increase in both quit attempts and quit success,€ Professor West reported. €We can't claim causality, but it is difficult to sustain the argument that e-cigarettes have a detrimental effect.€ Good data on relapse allows models to estimate longterm effects, he said, with e-cigarettes probably resulting €in approximately 20,000 additional ex-smokers€.