More Shoddy Research on E-Cigarettes by Big Pharma-Funded Scientists

This study confirms previous findings from observational studies regarding the negative association between e-cigarette use and smoking cessation, but in a large cohort of smokers enrolled in an evidence-based treatment program. The implications of these findings are that concurrent use of e-cigarettes during a quit attempt utilizing cost-free evidence-based treatment (nicotine replacement therapy plus behavioural counselling) does not confer any added benefit and may hamper successful quitting. "The Rest of the StoryThe major flaw in this study is that it is very likely that the smokers who were dual users became dual users because they were unable to quit smoking. Had they been successful in quitting smoking, they would not have become dual users (and thus their success would not have been observed in the study). This means that what the study is really comparing is smoking cessation rates among smokers who have failed to quit versus those who have not necessarily failed to quit. It would be shocking if the study didnot find higher quit rates among the non-dual users.While the study controlled for confidence in ability to quit using a crude measure, this is clearly not as sensitive a measure as whether the person had actually failed to quit smoking, which is of course going to be much more productive than any self-reported attitudinal measure. Apparently, one question that was not asked of study subjects was their history of failed quit a...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs