Smokers who change to e-cigarettes to strive to stop their habit are at least as likely to be successful in stopping or reducing as consumers of nicotine patches, based on research released on Sunday.
In a first-of-its kind study, investigators compared electronic, or e-cigarettes, using the more conventional nicotine replacement therapy patches.
They discovered amounts of success were similar, with e-cigarettes - whose results are a matter of intense disagreement among health professionals - more probable to assist smokers who neglect to stop cut the number of tobacco they use.
Some specialists worry e-cigarettes can be a "gateway" to nicotine addiction and tobacco smoke, while some see them as the best approach however of cutting back and assisting would-be quitters.
Smoking continues to kill half of individuals who indulge inside, as the argument rumbles on.
Tobacco accounts for 6 million deaths annually and also the World Health Organisation estimate that amount could grow beyond 8 million by 2030.
Too as causing lung cancer and other chronic respiratory problems, smoke is also a leading contributor to cvd, the planet's number one killer.
'USEFUL WEAPON'
The research, presented at a meeting in Spain and published in The Lancet medical journal, was the first ever to evaluate whether e - cigarettes are more or less powerful than nicotine patches - currently recognized as beneficial in assisting individuals stop.
"While our results do not reveal any clear cut distinctions... in terms of quit success after 6 months, it definitely appears that e-cigarettes were more successful in assisting smokers who did not quit to reduce," said Chris Bullen of NZ's University of Auckland, who headed the research.
"It is also interesting the individuals who took part in our study appeared to be more excited about e-cigarettes than patches, as evidenced by the significantly higher proportion of individuals... who stated they had urge them to family or friends."
Bullen's research group recruited 657 smokers who wished to stop smoking and split them into three groups.
They gave 292 of them 13 weeks' supply of commercially available e-cigarettes, all of which comprised around 16milligrams of nicotine. The identical amount of individuals got 13 weeks of nicotine patches, and also the remaining 73 got placebo e-cigarettes comprising no nicotine.
At the conclusion of the six month study, 5.7% of individuals had managed to entirely quit smoking for this interval.
Bullen stated that while the percentage of individuals who quit was greatest in the e-cigarettes team - at 7.3 percent compared to 5.8 percent on nicotine patches and 4.1 percent on placebo - the differences weren't statistically significant, therefore the results were that both products were similar.
The analysis also found that among people who hadn't managed to cease, cigarette consumption was noticeably more reduced within the nicotine e-cigarettes group, compared to both other groups.
Some 57 percent of individuals using e - cigarettes had cut their day-to-day amount of cigarettes smoked by at least half after 6 months, compared to just over 40 percent of the team.
Ann McNeill, a professor of tobacco addiction in the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said the findings should convince health experts to adopt e-cigarettes as a useful weapon in the fight against smoking.
"Electronic cigarettes are truly the most interesting new development in tobacco control during the previous couple of decades as we've observed a fast uptake of the much less dangerous products by smokers," she said in an emailed comment.
"The popularity of e-cigarettes implies that we finally have a product which may compete with smokes, thereby heralding the first real chance that cigarette smoking might be phased out."
In a first-of-its kind study, investigators compared electronic, or e-cigarettes, using the more conventional nicotine replacement therapy patches.
They discovered amounts of success were similar, with e-cigarettes - whose results are a matter of intense disagreement among health professionals - more probable to assist smokers who neglect to stop cut the number of tobacco they use.
Some specialists worry e-cigarettes can be a "gateway" to nicotine addiction and tobacco smoke, while some see them as the best approach however of cutting back and assisting would-be quitters.
Smoking continues to kill half of individuals who indulge inside, as the argument rumbles on.
Tobacco accounts for 6 million deaths annually and also the World Health Organisation estimate that amount could grow beyond 8 million by 2030.
Too as causing lung cancer and other chronic respiratory problems, smoke is also a leading contributor to cvd, the planet's number one killer.
'USEFUL WEAPON'
The research, presented at a meeting in Spain and published in The Lancet medical journal, was the first ever to evaluate whether e - cigarettes are more or less powerful than nicotine patches - currently recognized as beneficial in assisting individuals stop.
"While our results do not reveal any clear cut distinctions... in terms of quit success after 6 months, it definitely appears that e-cigarettes were more successful in assisting smokers who did not quit to reduce," said Chris Bullen of NZ's University of Auckland, who headed the research.
"It is also interesting the individuals who took part in our study appeared to be more excited about e-cigarettes than patches, as evidenced by the significantly higher proportion of individuals... who stated they had urge them to family or friends."
Bullen's research group recruited 657 smokers who wished to stop smoking and split them into three groups.
They gave 292 of them 13 weeks' supply of commercially available e-cigarettes, all of which comprised around 16milligrams of nicotine. The identical amount of individuals got 13 weeks of nicotine patches, and also the remaining 73 got placebo e-cigarettes comprising no nicotine.
At the conclusion of the six month study, 5.7% of individuals had managed to entirely quit smoking for this interval.
Bullen stated that while the percentage of individuals who quit was greatest in the e-cigarettes team - at 7.3 percent compared to 5.8 percent on nicotine patches and 4.1 percent on placebo - the differences weren't statistically significant, therefore the results were that both products were similar.
The analysis also found that among people who hadn't managed to cease, cigarette consumption was noticeably more reduced within the nicotine e-cigarettes group, compared to both other groups.
Some 57 percent of individuals using e - cigarettes had cut their day-to-day amount of cigarettes smoked by at least half after 6 months, compared to just over 40 percent of the team.
Ann McNeill, a professor of tobacco addiction in the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said the findings should convince health experts to adopt e-cigarettes as a useful weapon in the fight against smoking.
"Electronic cigarettes are truly the most interesting new development in tobacco control during the previous couple of decades as we've observed a fast uptake of the much less dangerous products by smokers," she said in an emailed comment.
"The popularity of e-cigarettes implies that we finally have a product which may compete with smokes, thereby heralding the first real chance that cigarette smoking might be phased out."