Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation: do they work?
Vanessa Jordan
1 *
1 University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Journal of Primary Health Care 14(4) 378-379 https://doi.org/10.1071/HC22148
Published: 8 December 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Cochrane Review: Hartmann-Boyce J, Lindson N, Butler AR, McRobbie H, Bullen C, Begh R, Theodoulou A, Notley C, Rigotti NA, Turner T, Fanshawe TR, Hajek P. Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2022, Issue 11, Art. No. CD010216. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub7.1
Background
Tobacco use is one of the biggest threats to world health. It kills more than 8 million people annually.2 Primary care is an important point of contact for patients and there is evidence that primary care physicians play an important role in smoking cessation.3 Smoking cessation treatment options involve behavioural support, nicotine replacement medications and now also include electronic cigarettes. The question addressed in this review was, what is the best method of treatment?
Clinical bottom line
In order to support people who would like to stop smoking, the most effective tool currently available is the use of nicotine electronic cigarettes. This intervention was shown to be more effective than nicotine replacement therapy such as gum or patches. It was also shown to be more effective than other forms of electronic cigarettes that did not contain nicotine and more effective than behavioural interventions designed to help people quit smoking (Table 1).1
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References
[1] Hartmann-Boyce J, Lindson N, Butler AR, et al. Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2022; Art. no. CD010216| Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[2] World Health Organization. Tobacco. 2022. Available at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco [Accessed 22 November 2022].
[3] McLeod D, Somasundaram R, Howden-Chapman P, et al. Promotion of smoking cessation by New Zealand general practitioners: a description of current practice. N Z Med J 2000; 113 480–2.
