August 26, 2026

expert reaction to updated review looking at vaping for smoking cessation

An updated review published in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews looks at e-cigarettes for smoking cessation.

Prof Richard Holland, Professor of Public Health Medicine and Dean of the Medical School, University of Exeter, said:

“We’ve now seen a huge volume of studies into vaping, and it can be time-consuming for busy clinicians to get to grips with what the evidence shows.  This high-quality systematic review of clinical trials of e-cigarettes has gathered data across 80 studies, and almost 30,000 participants.  Reviews of this nature aim to assess research that meets a standard for inclusion, to provide reliable evidence to guide health care advice.  The main comparison here was based on a subset of 11 studies and just over 4,000 participants.  It has shown that e-cigarettes are more effective than simple nicotine replacement therapy, which includes nicotine patches, gum or lozenges, in leading to quitting smoking successfully.  This is an important finding that is helpful for members of the public who smoke but now wish to quit, or for clinicians as they seek to guide their patients.”

Prof John Britton, Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology, University of Nottingham, said:

“This comprehensive, high quality systematic review and meta-analysis provides further confirmation that using e-cigarettes helps smokers to quit smoking, and does so more effectively than existing medicinal forms of nicotine replacement.  This also confirms that smokers who want to quit should not be dissuaded from choosing e-cigarettes to help them, and that services provided to support quit attempts should promote vaping as an option for smokers to use.”

* ‘Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation’ by Lindson N et al. was published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviewsat 01:00 UK time on Wednesday 26 August 2026.

DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub11

Declared interests

Prof Richard Holland: “Author of the COSTED study – lead author Ian Pope – which is one of the studies included in this review.

The full citation of the study I was involved with is: Pope I, Clark LV, Clark A, et al. Cessation of Smoking Trial in the Emergency Department (COSTED): a multicentre randomised controlled trial. Emerg Med J; 2024;41:276–282.

I was also involved in this study which was also cited within the background section of the review (this wasn’t a trial, it was a qualitative study, so its results were not suitable/relevant to be included in the analysis): Notley C, Ward E, Dawkins L, Holland R. The unique contribution of e-cigarettes for tobacco harm reduction in supporting smoking relapse prevention. HarmReduction Journal 2018;15(1):31.

No other conflicts.”

Prof John Britton: “I have no interests to declare.”

This Roundup was accompanied by an SMC Briefing.