Physicians give electronic cigarettes a glowing report in first trial of its kind
In the first trial of its kind, health professionals support use of electronic cigarettes by smokers wanting to quit amid debate in US and Europe
Taking a drag from an e-cigarette may be just as safe and effective as slapping on a nicotine patch for smokers struggling to quit, according to the first physician-run trial to compare the products.
About one in 20 people who used either patches or e-cigarettes quit completely six months after the test started, according to research published yesterday in The Lancet.
Meanwhile, users of electronic cigarettes - battery-powered devices that deliver vaporised nicotine - were more likely to have halved their use of the real thing, even if they did not manage to quit entirely.
The 657-person trial was not big enough to draw definite conclusions about whether e-cigarettes were better than nicotine patches, researchers said.
Still, the results should be a signal to the regulators in the US and Europe now weighing restrictions on e-cigarettes, said Peter Hajek, a professor of clinical psychology at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine.
"Health professionals will now hopefully feel easier about recommending e-cigarettes to smokers, or at least condoning their use," Hajek wrote in a commentary published alongside the results.