May 21, 2014

do e-cigarettes help smokers to quit?

We often hear anecdotes about e-cigarettes helping people to quit smoking – but what does the science say?  Do e-cigarettes make a big difference to a smoker’s chances of successfully quitting compared to willpower alone or over-the-counter nicotine products such as patches and gum?

A new study to be published in the journal Addiction provides the first evidence of e-cigarettes’ impact on quitting, based on a survey of 5,863 smokers in England between 2009 and 2014 as part of the Smoking Toolkit Study.

The authors of the new study, who have also conducted previous surveys on e-cigarette usage, came to the SMC to talk about:

• Are e-cigarettes more effective than patches and gum?
• Could e-cigarettes have a role to play in reducing overall smoking rates in the UK?
• How popular are e-cigarettes in the UK?
• How do the risks of e-cigarettes balance with the benefits of quitting smoking?
• Will e-cigarettes have the negative effect of ‘normalising’ smoking and encourage people to take it smoking

Speakers: 

Professor Robert West, Professor of Health Psychology and Director of Tobacco Studies at UCL

Dr Jamie Brown, Research Associate, Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology at UCL