10.2. SR 09-08-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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E-cigarettes: an evidence update 51 smoking cessation (30-day abstinence) in a sample of smokers enrolled in a web-based cessation programme in the US with three-month follow-up. Pearson illustrated how the relation between using EC to quit and successful smoking cessation depended on the factors that were adjusted for and how the data were analysed, finding that under some conditions EC use was related to being less likely to quit and in others there was no relationship. The authors concluded that caution needs to be exerted when interpreting observational studies of the effects of EC use on smoking cessation. Borderud et al., 2014 [52] examined whether any use of EC in the past 30 days was related to smoking cessation outcomes in a group of cancer patients enrolled in a smoking cessation programme in the US. When treating all smokers who dropped out of the study as smoking cessation failures, the authors found that any use of EC in the last 30 days was related to being less likely to quit; however, this treatment of the data may have been problematic because more EC users than non-users dropped out of the study. No relationship between EC use in the last 30 days and smoking cessation was observed when drop-outs were excluded from the analyses. One potential problem with this study is the measure of any EC use in the last 30 days, as this could range from using an EC once in the last 30 days to using an EC daily for the past 30 days. As illustrated [16, 44, 45] and discussed in previous studies [51], measurements of EC use that do not fully capture frequency of use may influence the relation between EC use and smoking cessation. As with studies in the previous section, the Borderud study started with smokers who had tried EC but did not stop smoking. This, of course, seriously reduces the chance of detecting a positive effect. Summary of findings Recent studies support the Cochrane Review findings that EC can help people to quit smoking and reduce their cigarette consumption. There is also evidence that EC can encourage quitting or cigarette consumption reduction even among those not intending to quit or rejecting other support. It is not known whether current EC products are more or less effective than licensed stop-smoking medications, but they are much more popular, thereby providing an opportunity to expand the number of smokers stopping successfully. Some English stop smoking services and practitioners support the use of EC in quit attempts and provide behavioural support for EC users trying to quit smoking; self-reported quit rates are at least comparable to other treatments. The evidence on EC used alongside smoking on subsequent quitting of smoking is mixed. Policy implications o Smokers who have tried other methods of quitting without success could be encouraged to try EC to stop smoking and stop smoking services should support smokers using EC to quit by offering them behavioural support.