Electronic cigarettes help to reduce cigarette smoking

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Bill Godshall

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Press Release LIAF
Italian No Smoking Association


Electronic cigarettes help to reduce cigarette smoking
First clinical study on e cigarettes just presented at the International Meeting of SRNT in Antalya

Researchers from the University of Catania (ITALY), presented the results of their study on electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) to the Society for Research on Nicotine and tobacco in Antalya, Turkey last week. Study results. A report on the clinical trial results, which showed that switching to an e-cigarette may assist smokers to reduce or eliminate cigarette smoking in 55% of cases, will be published soon in BMC Public Health.

“Cigarette smoking is a tough addiction to break,” said Professor Riccardo Polosa, the principal investigator of the study. “Therefore, improved approaches to smoking cessation are necessary. E-cigarettes may prove to be a safe alternative to traditional cigarette smoking. They provide a coping mechanism by replacing some of smoking gestures, to help smokers remain abstinent during their quit attempt or to reduce cigarette consumption.”

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that deliver vaporized nicotine without the harmful elements present in tobacco cigarette smoke. Tar, carbon monoxide, particulates and thousands of chemicals created by the process of combustion are the elements in smoke that cause up to 99% of the lung disease, heart attacks, strokes, and cancers associated with smoking.

THE STUDY
The study “Effect of an Electronic Nicotine Delivery Device (e-Cigarette) on Smoking Reduction and Cessation: A Prospective 6-Month Pilot Study” monitored modifications in smoking habits of 40 regular smokers unwilling to quit, with a focus on smoking reduction and abstinence. The study used the CATEGORIA® E-Cigarette. Study participants were invited to attend a total of five study visits in a period of 24 weeks. Product use, number of cigarettes smoked, and exhaled carbon monoxide (eCO) levels were measured at each visit.

THE RESULTS
Thirteen of 40 (32.5%) of the participants sustained a 50% reduction in the number of cigarettes per day (CPD) at week-24, with their median of 25 CPD decreasing to 6 CPD. A sustained 80% reduction was shown in five (12.5%) participants, with their median of 30 CPD decreasing to 3 CPD. Sustained smoking abstinence at week-24 was observed in nine (22.5%) participants, with six of them still using the e-cigarette by the end of the study. Combined sustained 50% reduction and smoking abstinence was shown in 22 (55%) participants, with an overall 88% fall in CPD.

Mouth (20.6%) and throat (32.4%) irritation, and dry cough (32.4%) were common, but diminished substantially by week-24.

Participants’ perception and acceptance of the product was good.

Press Office LIAF – Italian No Smoking Association
http://www.liaf-onlus.org
info@liaf-onlus.org
 

Tom09

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Will certainly be great to have this study at hand. Polosa is publishing his research in international scientific journals. Co-author of one of his recent papers was Benowitz. The latter paper included a very shory mention of e-cigs:
Although not formally regulated as a pharmaceutical product, the electronic-cigarette (e-Cig) can also deliver nicotine. It is a battery-powered electronic device resembling a cigarette in which no tobacco or combustion is necessary for its operation. By supplying nicotine, e-Cigs can help smokers to remain abstinent or reduce their cigarette consumption. To date there is no formal demonstration supporting the efficacy and safety of these devices, but several large prospective studies are ongoing in Italy, New Zealand and USA [listed on the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Trials website at Home - ClinicalTrials.gov and by the New Zealand Clinical Trials unit at http://www.ctru.auckland.ac.nz/index.php/research-programmes/addiction-research].
Note that this language is highly different, factual and not engrossed by the polemic drivel that is characteristic for many supposedly scientific authors, e.g. Henningfield, Cobb, Talbot, Eissenberg (PR of his first e-cig installment) publishing on the issue.
 

sqirl1

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It will be very difficult for e-cigarette opponents to continue claiming that "there is no evidence e-cigarettes can help smokers quit" after this study is published, because unlike other published studies, this one is a clinical trial.

as in real, government funded stuff? sweeeeet.

you know what the sad thing is? I think the FDA never expected e-cigarettes to go this far and have such a well established user base. they just wrote them off as another cheap gimmick like the Nicotine Water and the Nicotine Lollipop that they banned years ago. they expected it to be just another one of those things that they would get rid of before anybody knew it existed.
 

Vocalek

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DC2

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you know what the sad thing is? I think the FDA never expected e-cigarettes to go this far and have such a well established user base. they just wrote them off as another cheap gimmick like the Nicotine Water and the Nicotine Lollipop that they banned years ago. they expected it to be just another one of those things that they would get rid of before anybody knew it existed.
That's what I've always thought too.
 

Vocalek

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as in real, government funded stuff? sweeeeet.

you know what the sad thing is? I think the FDA never expected e-cigarettes to go this far and have such a well established user base. they just wrote them off as another cheap gimmick like the Nicotine Water and the Nicotine Lollipop that they banned years ago. they expected it to be just another one of those things that they would get rid of before anybody knew it existed.

:banana: SURPRISE!:bday::thumb::toast::D
 
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