Emergency departments in hospitals in five UK cities will offer smoking patients e-cigarettes to quit smoking.
"We want to plant the idea in the minds of smokers who have not previously considered e-cigarettes," says Caitlin Notley, Professor of Addiction Studies, who is leading the project.
A starter kit of e-liquids and instructions on how to use them. That's what staff at UK hospitals will offer smoking patients visiting the emergency department. The project is part of a larger study on how e-cigarettes work for smoking cessation. The researchers hope to involve around 1 000 smokers in the study, which is funded by the National Institute for Health Research.
"We see 24 million patients a year in emergency departments, a quarter of whom are smokers. This is a good opportunity to encourage patients to quit smoking," said emergency physician Ian Pope in a press release from the University of East Anglia.
E-cigarettes twice as effective
The UK government wants to drastically reduce smoking rates in the UK. The aim is to reduce smoking from 14% to 5% by 2030. And e-cigarettes are currently the most popular method of quitting smoking among Britons. At the same time, a report from the influential Cochrane Review that e-cigarettes are not only more popular, but also twice as effective in smoking cessation, compared to traditional methods (nicotine replacement therapy).
"Electronic cigarettes provide a similar experience to that of a smoker with a cigarette. They hold it in their hand and suck in a smoke-like vapor. It becomes an attractive option for smokers. Especially if they have tried to quit before and failed." Says Caitlin Noteley to BBC News. "At the same time, we know that they are significantly less harmful compared to traditional cigarettes. And that they help smokers to quit smoking"
Will evaluate the efforts
The study will last 30 months, during which time participants will report regularly on how the intervention is working. Smokers will be given two options: an e-cigarette, instructions and information on nearby quit-smoking centers, or just information on quitting smoking and contact details for a quit-smoking center.
"We will look more closely at which participants succeed in quitting smoking in both groups. Then we can assess which intervention works best" says Caitlin Notley. "We will at the same time get an idea of what it would cost to do similar interventions across the country"
According to British Health Authority smokers can reduce the risks of nicotine dependence by almost 95% if they switch from smoking to vejping. The Agency continuously monitors research on e-cigarettes in the report "Vaping in England - an evidence update", which has been updated annually since 2016. As vejpkollen previously reported, hospitals in the UK have for some time allowed vejpning in the hospital area, while smoking will be completely banned.
