Unguided Electronic Cigarette Use Beneficial for Smoking Cessation

TUESDAY, Aug. 29, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are beneficial for smoking cessation in adult smokers with varied motivation for smoking cessation, according to a study published online Aug. 15 in eClinicalMedicine.

Matthew J. Carpenter, Ph.D., from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and colleagues examined the naturalistic uptake, use, and impact of e-cigarettes among adults who may or may not want to stop smoking in a randomized, controlled clinical trial involving adult smokers. Participants across the motivational spectrum were randomly assigned to receive a free four-week supply of flavored, tank-style e-cigarettes or not (427 and 211, respectively). The e-cigarette group participants received a battery and device with up to 30 prefilled tanks and were provided with minimal instructions for use.

The researchers found that e-cigarette uptake was robust, with about 70 percent of participants using the product and average usage exceeding four days per week during the initial 30-day period. In an intent-to-treat approach with missing data imputed as smoking, almost all behavioral outcomes favored the e-cigarette group compared with the control group, including point prevalence abstinence at six months (odds ratio [OR], 1.8; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.0 to 3.1), cumulative incidence of 24-hour quit attempts (OR, 1.5; 95 percent CI, 1.0 to 2.2), and having reduced smoking by at least 50 percent since baseline (OR, 1.8; 95 percent CI, 1.2 to 2.7). Under an alternative imputation, results were similar.

“It’s rarely the case that you’re proven correct for almost everything that you predicted,” Carpenter said in a statement. “No matter how we looked at it, those who got the e-cigarette product demonstrated greater abstinence and reduced harm as compared to those who didn’t get it.”

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry; one author serves as paid expert witness in litigation filed against the tobacco industry.

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