Indo Article 31/12/11

Italian Study.
Effect of an electronic nicotine delivery device (e-Cigarette) on smoking reduction and cessation: a prospective 6-month pilot study

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/786


Conclusions

Current smoking cessation interventions can increase the chance of quitting in committed smokers who are already motivated and prepared to stop smoking [33], but a broader range of interventions are needed in order to bring more smokers into treatment and increase the numbers who are motivated to make quit attempts. Although not formally regulated as a pharmaceutical product, the e-Cigarette can help smokers to remain abstinent or reduce their cigarette consumption. By replacing tobacco cigarettes, the e-cigarette can only save lives.

Here we show for the first time that e-Cigarettes can substantially decrease cigarette consumption without causing significant side effects in smokers not intending to quit. However, large and carefully conducted RCTs will be required before a definite answer about the efficacy and safety of these devices can be formulated. Some of these trials are now in progress in Italy [34-36] and New Zealand [37] and hopefully they will be able to confirm and expand the preliminary observations reported in the present article.