Studies Suggest E-cigarettes May Aid Quitters

E-cigarettes may help smokers to quit, a new report concludes. But it noted that there’s not much research so far about these new devices. The report comes from the Cochrane Collaboration. This is an independent group that evaluates medical evidence and gives advice. Cochrane reviewers looked at 2 clinical trials. They included a total of 662 smokers. People were randomly assigned to try quitting with either e-cigarettes or fake devices that contained no nicotine. After a year, 9% of those who used e-cigarettes were tobacco-free. About 4% of those who used the fake devices were able to quit. About 36% of e-cigarette users cut in half the number of regular cigarettes they smoked. About 28% of those using the fake devices were able to do this. One of the trials also compared e-cigarettes and nicotine patches. They were about equal in helping people quite.