Do E-Cigarettes Really Help People Quit Smoking?

Do e-cigarettes really help people quit smoking? The e-cigarette market has welcomed many new "players", and the entire industry seems to be experiencing a springtime.

It is well known that smoking is a difficult habit to quit, and many e-cigarette advertisements claim they can help with quitting. But we are very concerned: can e-cigarettes really help smokers quit?

This may be one of the most pressing unresolved issues in public health. Now, it seems to have an answer.

A study published this Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine indicates that the success rate of quitting smoking with e-cigarettes is significantly higher than that of those trying products like nicotine patches or gum.

The study report indicates that the success rate of quitting smoking with e-cigarettes is still low, at 18%, while the success rate for patients using traditional nicotine replacement therapies is only 9.9%. The success rate of quitting smoking through e-cigarettes is about twice that of traditional nicotine replacement therapies.

The clinical trial was conducted from May 2015 to February 2018, randomly assigning 886 smokers to use e-cigarettes or traditional nicotine replacement therapies. Since the smokers were recruited from clinics, they were already inclined towards quitting, and participants were typically middle-aged. Traditional nicotine replacement therapy trial patients received half a pack to a pack of smoked cigarettes daily while attempting to participate in the clinical trial.

Another group of e-cigarette participants received a starter kit with a refillable device and a bottle of tobacco-flavored nicotine e-liquid, containing 18mg per milliliter, which is the most common product in the UK.

It is understood that during the clinical trial, all patients continued to manage their work and life affairs normally, and researchers provided patients with more freedom, bringing complex scenarios into clinical diagnosis. Through continuous clinical trials, this research now has an answer.

E-cigarettes control the amount of smoke output and working state through high-tech smart chips and air switches, gradually reducing the nicotine intake of smokers. Inside the e-cigarette, the e-liquid is transmitted to the atomization chamber through foam nickel, and then connected through the smoking air switch. The smart chip is driven by the current of the lithium battery, controlling the operation of the atomization chamber, where the heating wire generates high temperatures to atomize the e-liquid, thus forming vapor that simulates smoke.
E-cigarettes have a significant advantage in that they do not change the habitual actions of the smoker, which is very important because a large number of smokers cannot break free from these habitual actions, which is why they have not been able to quit successfully.

Researchers in tobacco and nicotine development claim that this report provides them with very clear evidence for effective quitting methods.

"This is a groundbreaking study," said Dr. Neal L. Benowitz, director of clinical pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco, and an expert on nicotine and tobacco-related diseases. "The results of this study are very important for the entire field of nicotine and related diseases."

It is reported that this study was conducted in the UK and funded by the National Health Research and Cancer Research Institute.

The results of this study may provide some legitimacy for e-cigarette companies. However, according to experts from the Beijing Smoking Control Association, they believe that e-cigarettes contain nicotine, and the usage process is similar to that of traditional cigarettes, which can lead to addiction, and widespread use may increase the smoking rate of traditional cigarettes. This study may replace previous speculations and related reports.

E-cigarettes provide smokers with another way to satisfy their "nicotine" cravings, but they also come with some important issues.
The report indicates that the findings on quitting smoking with e-cigarettes may lead young people, influenced by their environment, to initially smoke e-cigarettes, increasing smoking rates, transitioning from avoiding smoking to gradually inhaling nicotine.

"Protecting children from e-cigarettes and the tension between quitting smoking is also very important," Dr. Benowitz said.

Currently, smoking causes nearly 6 million deaths worldwide each year, with the United States accounting for 480,000, according to the CDC. If tobacco use trends continue, it is expected that by 2030, the global death toll will reach 8 million annually.

"Due to the lack of clear evidence from randomized controlled trials, health professionals have been reluctant to recommend their use. But with the release of this report, things may change," said Peter Hajek, the lead author of the study and a professor of clinical psychology at Queen Mary University of London.

According to the article in The New England Journal of Medicine, they suggest that when other quitting methods, including behavioral counseling, fail, e-cigarettes should be adopted; and hope that patients use the lowest dose of nicotine; healthcare providers have established a clear timeline for e-cigarette use, which may effectively control the nicotine intake dosage.

In addition to inhaling e-cigarettes, the report also pointed out other studies on quitting therapies: in one study, the quitting rate for patients using the antidepressant Bupropion (Wellbutrin) was slightly higher than that of the latest trials with e-cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapies, and the prescription drug Varenicline (Chantix) performed even better.

Researchers noted that these products have been proven to be safe.