Following quickly behind the inclusion of e-cigarettes in The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended quit aids, The National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) has published guidance for quit services to show support for vaping and incorporate it in their offering.
The NCSCT supports stop smoking services and practitioners, plus other health and social care professionals, by providing training and guidance on highly effective smoking interventions based on the most up-to-date evidence available.
This is another demonstration of a highly reputable public health body getting wholeheartedly behind vaping to quit. They are doing this because there is now sufficient evidence that vaping is much, much safer than smoking, and that it is very effective as a quit aid, especially when combined with behavioural support.
Stop smoking support
The updated guidance issued by NCSCT refers to Public Health England's Vaping in England Evidence Review (2021) which finds that there is strong evidence that nicotine vaping products are effective for smoking cessation and reduction. (1) It goes on to recommend that combining vaping products with stop smoking service support should be an option available to all people who want to quit smoking.
Many local authorities have already recognised the effectiveness of vaping in helping smokers to quit. An Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) survey of tobacco control leads found that one in ten local authority stop smoking services already offer vaping products to some or all people making a quit attempt. (2)
Stop smoking services who are already offering vaping products have had significant success in quit rates. In 2019/20, Leicestershire stop smoking service saw the highest proportion of clients using an e-cigarette as part of their quit attempt (42.4%). Leicestershire stop smoking service as a whole achieved 68% 4-week success rates last year, placing them in the top 10 nationally for quit rates. (3)
Notably, the NCSCT also recommends that local vaping retail stores are in an ideal position to promote local stop smoking programmes. Retailers can verbally promote the service to customers and use service resources that advertise the programme. Here at Totally Wicked, we already work in partnership with a number of Local Stop Smoking Services and initiatives up and down the country and are pleased to see further support for similar collaborations. (4) Marcus Saxton, IBVTA Chair said "the IVBTA has been working successfully with many local stop smoking services. It's great to see this latest initiative come to fruition, which should help develop the confidence to recommend vaping as the hugely successful quit aid that it has been proven to be." Find your local Vape Shop.
Vaping improves chances of quitting for good
A major UK clinical trial found e-cigarettes, when combined with face-to-face behavioural support, to be twice as effective, and one fifth of the cost, for quitting smoking as other nicotine replacement products such as patches or gum.
Involving nearly 900 participants, it found that in local Stop Smoking Services, a simple tank-style e-cigarette was twice as effective at helping smokers to quit compared with a combination Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). (5)
Is vaping safe?
Vaping isn't risk free but carries a fraction of the risk of smoking and is helping thousands of smokers to quit and stay smoke free.
Leading health and public health organisations including the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)(6), British Medical Association (BMA)(7), Cancer Research UK (7) and the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) (8) and Public Health England (1) have also shown support for vaping, based on available evidence, that although not risk-free, vaping is far less harmful than smoking.
In a paper issued by the British Medical Association, they stated "There is growing consensus that using an e-cigarette is substantially safer than smoking tobacco. Unlike smoking, e-cigarette use does not involve combustion. While the constituents of e-cigarette vapour can vary, and some of the toxicants present in tobacco smoke have been detected in e-cigarette aerosol, they are typically present at levels which are much lower than in tobacco smoke." (7)
References
(1) Public Health England 2021 'Vaping in England: evidence update February 2021'
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/962221/Vaping_in_England_evidence_update_February_2021.pdf
(2) Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and Cancer Research UK (CRUK). 'Many Ways Forward: Stop smoking services and tobacco control work in English local authorities. 2020.' < https://ash.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Many-Ways-Forward.pdf>
(3) National Health Service 2020 'Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England April 2019 to March 2020' https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/statistics-on-nhs-stop-smoking-services-in-england/april-2019-to-march-2020
(4) NCSCT 2020 'Working with vape shops: A guide for commissioners and stop smoking services'
(5) 'A randomised trial of e-cigarettes versus nicotine replacement therapy'. Peter Hajek, PhD, Anna Phillips-Waller, BSc, Dunja Przulj, PhD, Francesca Pesola, PhD, Katie Myers Smith, DPsych, Natalie Bisal, MSc, Jinshuo Li, MPhil, Steve Parrott, MSc, Peter Sasieni, PhD, Lynne Dawkins, PhD, Louise. Ross, Maciej Goniewicz, PhD, PharmD, Qi Wu, MSc, Hayden James McRobbie, PhD. New England Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1808779 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1808779
(6) RCGP 2017 'Position Statement on the use of electronic nicotine vapour products (E-Cigarettes) UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2017' < https://www.rcgp.org.uk/policy/rcgp-policy-areas/e-cigarettes-non-combustible-inhaled-tobacco-products.aspx>
(7) Cancer Research UK 2019, 'E-cigarette Policy Statement' https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/e-cigarette_policy_statement_oct_2019.pdf
(8) National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24952
(9) British Medical Association 2019 'E-cigarettes, balancing risks and opportunities' https://www.bma.org.uk/media/2083/e-cigarettes-position-paper-v3.pdf