E-cigarette studies unclear, may not be helping

Siu, M.D., M.S.P.H., from the USPSTF, and colleagues updated recommendations on counseling and interventions to prevent tobacco use and tobacco-related disease in adults, including pregnant women.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has weighed in on the heated debate over whether e-cigarettes are an effective way to wean people off tobacco and if they are safe enough to avoid draconian regulations.

The use of e-cigarettes as a potential coping mechanism by smokers attempting to quit has been noted by some health campaigners.

For pregnant women, the task force said that clinicians should ask about tobacco use, advise their patients to stop smoking, and provide behavioral interventions for cessation for those who use tobacco. These guidelines are widely used to determine whether insurance will pay for screenings and treatments and are widely followed by primary care physicians.

One of the two trials involved about 650 smokers and found no significant difference in smoking cessation after six months for e-cigarettes containing liquid nicotine, e-cigarettes without nicotine, or nicotine patches.

Among kids, smoking is at a record low while e-cigarette use skyrockets.

Another trial studied 300 smokers over 12 months and found that e-cigs with nicotine is slightly better (11 percent cessation) than the devices with nicotine cartridges (4 percent cessation). They are unable to decide whether to support or reject or endorse e-cigarettes. Many studies show that combinations of behavioral interventions or pharmacotherapies can help the most.

In addition, the final recommendation said that clinicians should provide appropriate cessation aids to patients who do use tobacco.

The review, along with the task force recommendations, was published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

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Sheila Duffy, Chief Executive of health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Scotland said: “It’s encouraging that the majority of adults who smoke in Scotland want to quit and for some, e-cigarettes seem to be an acceptable alternative to smoking, or a way of quitting cigarettes”. It is clear that more data on both the benefits and harms of these products-from well-designed trials-is needed.