Use of e-Cigarettes for Smoking Cessation

To the Editor The role of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in smoking cessation is unclear. We are concerned about the interpretation of the recent trial by Dr Eisenberg and colleagues, which demonstrated an increased rate of smoking cessation that did not persist at 24 weeks. Although this study did not demonstrate harm from e-cigarettes, neither did it demonstrate harm from combustible cigarettes. It is discordant to tout the potential safety of e-cigarettes from examining short-term outcomes in small numbers while acknowledging that harms from combustible cigarettes often take decades to manifest and occur only in a fraction of smokers. More than 50 years elapsed between the mass marketing of cigarettes in the late 19th century and realization of their association with lung cancer in the 1940s. As late as 1960, only one-third of US physicians thought the link between cigarettes and cancer had been established. The mass marketing of e-cigarettes, which have been available for only 15 years, parallels that seen in prior decades with combustible cigarettes. In addition, the unclear messaging from physicians about potential harms of e-cigarettes also seems to parallel that of combustible cigarettes.
Source: JAMA - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research