Can electronic cigarettes help people stop smoking?

What are electronic cigarettes?

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are handheld devices that work by heating a liquid that usually contains nicotine and flavourings. E-cigarettes allow users to inhale nicotine in a vapour rather than smoke. Because they do not burn tobacco, e-cigarettes do not expose users to the same levels of chemicals that can cause diseases in people who smoke conventional cigarettes.

Using an e-cigarette is commonly known as 'vaping'. Many people use e-cigarettes to help them to stop smoking tobacco. In this review we focus primarily on e-cigarettes containing nicotine.

Why we did this Cochrane Review

Stopping smoking lowers the risk of cancer, heart attacks and many other diseases. Many people find it difficult to stop smoking. We wanted to find out if using e-cigarettes could help people to stop smoking, and if people using them for this purpose experience any unwanted effects.

What did we do?

We searched for studies that looked at the use of e-cigarettes for stopping smoking.

We looked for randomized controlled trials, in which the treatments people received were decided at random. This type of study usually gives the most reliable evidence about treatment effects. We also looked for studies in which everyone received e-cigarette treatment. We also included studies that gave smokers e-cigarettes and monitored their health even if there was no randomised group, because such studies can contribute to our understanding of the health effects of using EC.

We were interested in finding out:

· how many people stopped smoking for at least six months; and
· how many people had unwanted effects, reported on after at least one week of use.

Search date: We included evidence published up to 1st July 2023.

What we found

We found 88 studies which included 27,235 adults who smoked. The studies compared e-cigarettes with:

· nicotine replacement therapy, such as patches or gum;

· varenicline (a medicine to help people stop smoking);
· e-cigarettes without nicotine;

· heated tobacco (products designed to heat tobacco to a high enough temperature to release vapour, without burning it or producing smoke; these differ from e‐cigarettes because they heat tobacco leaf/sheet rather than a liquid);

· other types of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes (e.g. pod devices, newer devices);
· behavioural support, such as advice or counselling; or
· no support for stopping smoking.

Most studies took place in the USA (38 studies), the UK (19), and Italy (9).

What are the results of our review?

People are more likely to stop smoking for at least six months using nicotine e-cigarettes than using nicotine replacement therapy (7 studies, 2544 people), or e-cigarettes without nicotine (6 studies, 1613 people).

Nicotine e-cigarettes may help more people to stop smoking than no support or behavioural support only (9 studies, 5024 people).

For every 100 people using nicotine e-cigarettes to stop smoking, 8 to 10 might successfully stop, compared with only 6 of 100 people using nicotine-replacement therapy, 7 of 100 using e-cigarettes without nicotine, or 4 of 100 people having no support or behavioural support only.

We are uncertain if there is a difference between how many unwanted effects occur using nicotine e-cigarettes compared with nicotine replacement therapy, no support or behavioural support only. There was some evidence that non-serious unwanted effects were more common in groups receiving nicotine e-cigarettes compared to no support or behavioural support only. Low numbers of unwanted effects, including serious unwanted effects, were reported in studies comparing nicotine e-cigarettes to nicotine replacement therapy. There is probably no difference in how many non-serious unwanted effects occur in people using nicotine e-cigarettes compared to e-cigarettes without nicotine.

The unwanted effects reported most often with nicotine e-cigarettes were throat or mouth irritation, headache, cough and feeling sick. These appeared similar to those people experience when using NRT. These effects were reduced over time as people continued using nicotine e-cigarettes.

How reliable are these results?

Our results are based on few studies for most outcomes and, for some outcomes, the data varied widely.

We found evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes help more people to stop smoking than nicotine replacement therapy. Nicotine e-cigarettes probably help more people to stop smoking than e-cigarettes without nicotine, but more studies are still needed to confirm this.

Studies comparing nicotine e-cigarettes with behavioural or no support also showed higher quit rates in people using nicotine e-cigarettes, but provide less certain data because of issues with study design.

Most of our results for the unwanted effects could change when more evidence becomes available.

Key messages

Nicotine e-cigarettes can help people to stop smoking for at least six months. Evidence shows they work better than nicotine replacement therapy, and probably better than e-cigarettes without nicotine.

They may work better than no support, or behavioural support alone, and they may not be associated with serious unwanted effects.

However, we still need more evidence, particularly about the effects of newer types of e-cigarettes that have better nicotine delivery than older types of e-cigarettes, as better nicotine delivery might help more people quit smoking.