A recent review aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of electronic cigarettes as smoking cessation tools, in comparison to traditional NRTs, confirmed that quitting rates tend to be higher in people who use nicotine-containing e-cigarettes.
The Cochrane Review titled, “Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation,” looked through research in order to evaluate the effect and safety of using electronic cigarettes (ECs) to help people who smoke achieve long‐term smoking abstinence.
The researchers looked through randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and randomized cross‐over trials in which smokers were split into two groups (an EC or control condition). The studies (50 completed studies, representing 12,430 participants) included in the review, had to report abstinence from cigarettes at six months or longer and/or data on adverse events (AEs) or other markers of safety at one week or longer.
In line with previous findings, the researchers concluded that EC’s lead to more successful quit attempts. “There is moderate‐certainty evidence that ECs with nicotine increase quit rates compared to ECs without nicotine and compared to NRT. Evidence comparing nicotine EC with usual care/no treatment also suggests benefit, but is less certain.”
E-cigs vs nicotine gum
Similarly, a recent study published in Addiction, compared the effectiveness of e-cigs vs nicotine gum in preventing relapse following smoking cessation. Titled, “Effectiveness of nicotine gum in preventing lapses in the face of temptation to smoke among non-daily smokers: A secondary analysis.”, this study consisted of a randomized clinical trial comparing the effect of nicotine gum with placebo on quitting smoking in non-daily smokers.
The trial consisted of a 6-week randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of nicotine gum, consisting of 255 adult ITS (131 nicotine gum, 124 placebo) seeking help for smoking cessation. The researchers looked into the outcome of temptation episodes where gum was or was not used.
The participants reported a total of 2,713 temptation episodes, 46.0% (1,248) of which resulted in smoking (lapsing). The compiled data indicated that using nicotine gum decreased the odds of lapsing by 55% compared with using placebo (OR=0.45, 0.22-0.94).
