The New England Journal of Medicine just published a new study today that shows vaping is twice more successful in helping smokers to quit smoking than patches, lozenges, and gum. The study was performed by researchers at Queen Mary University of London and it was funded by Britain’s National Institute. Independent experts who have reviewed the study have also said that this study was robust and well-conducted.
The study looked at nearly 900 smokers who were trying to quit smoking using various methods. What they found was that 18 percent of them had quit smoking entirely after a year of vaping, while only 9.9% of them had quit smoking using other nicotine replacement products.
This study shows stronger results for vaping than in other studies have, which the researchers believe is because their study includes smokers seriously wanting to quit. Many other studies only look at smokers or vapers in general, who may or may not have a strong desire to quit.
So here’s how the study played out.
886 smokers were randomly split up into two groups. Some of them received a three-months supply of traditional quitting products such as nicotine gum, patches, sprays, or lozenges. The others were given a refillable vape starter pack and one bottle of 18mg e-juice. They were also encouraged to buy their own choice of future supplies.
All of the study participants had weekly one-to-one support for at least four weeks and they were all tested at the end of the year-long study to see if they were smoking.
The researchers believe there are a few reasons that the smokers in the study were so successful with vaping.
- The users had the ability to choose their own liquids
- Users were able to fine-tune nicotine doses to their needs
- They received face-to-face support
- The smokers were seeking help
There were also some other takeaways from the study. The vaping group had greater decreases in coughing, greater decreases in phlegm, less severe urges to smoke at 1 and 4 weeks, and less irritability and restlessness than the NRT group.
It’s a great study with other experts confirming that it was performed well and the study also shows that vaping works almost twice as much as traditional quitting smoking aids.