E-cigarettes are more effective than nicotine-replacement therapy in helping smokers quit

The latest Cochrane Review finds high certainty evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes are more effective than traditional nicotine-replacement therapy (NRT) in helping people quit smoking. Research led by the University of Oxford, and funded by Cancer Research UK , has found the strongest evidence yet that e-cigarettes, also known as 'vapes', help people to quit smoking better than traditional nicotine replacement therapies, such as patches and chewing gums. New evidence published today in the Cochrane Library finds high certainty evidence that people are more likely to stop smoking for at least six months using nicotine e-cigarettes, or 'vapes', than using nicotine replacement therapies, such as patches and gums. Evidence also suggested that nicotine e-cigarettes led to higher quit rates than e-cigarettes without nicotine, or no stop smoking intervention, but less data contributed to these analyses. The updated Cochrane review includes 78 studies in over 22,000 participants - an addition of 22 studies since the last update in 2021. Smoking is a significant global health problem. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2020, 22.3% of the global population used tobacco, despite it killing up to half of its users.