February 2024 Reto Auer Let's talk e-cigarettes

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson discuss emerging evidence in e-cigarette research interview Reto Auer, Bern University, Switzerland. Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Dr Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Professor Reto Auer, primary care physician and clinical researcher from the Institute of Primary Health Care (BIHAM), University of Bern. Reto Auer is Head of the Substance Use Unit, where he leads a variety of research projects, including a large randomized controlled trial designed to test the efficacy, safety and toxicology of nicotine e-cigarettes.

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce interviews Reto Auer about his new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine ‘Electronic nicotine delivery systems for smoking cessation’. This trial randomized 1246 participants: 622 to free e-cigarettes and e-liquids, standard-of-care smoking-cessation counselling, and optional (not free) nicotine-replacement therapy; and 624 participants to a control group, which received standard counselling and a voucher, which they could use for any purpose, including nicotine-replacement therapy. This study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and others and registered as ESTxENDS NCT03589989. The percentage of participants with validated continuous abstinence from tobacco smoking was 28.9% in the intervention group and 16.3% in the control group (relative risk, 1.77; 95% confidence interval, 1.43 to 2.20). The study concluded that adding e-cigarettes to standard smoking-cessation counselling resulted in greater abstinence from tobacco use among smokers than smoking-cessation counselling alone.

DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2308815

This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches.

Our literature searches carried out on 1st February found the following

1 new study by Lin 2024 (Lin, H-X, Liu Z, Hajek P, Zhang W-T, Wu Y, Zhu B-C, Liu H-H, Xiang Q, Zhang Y, Li S-B, Pesola F, Wang Y-Y, Efficacy of Electronic Cigarettes vs Varenicline and Nicotine Chewing Gum as an Aid to Stop Smoking: A Randomized Clinical Trial, JAMA internal medicine / 2024;(101589534).)

3 new ongoing studies:

NCT06169813, E-cigarette Harm Reduction Among PLWHA in South Africa.

ISRCTN14068059, E-cigarettes for smoking cessation and reduction in people with a mental illness.

Hameed A, Malik D, Clinical study protocol on electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches for smoking cessation in Pakistan: a randomized controlled trial, Trials / 2024;25(1):9

3 papers linked to studies included in the review:

Scheibein F, McGirr K, Morrison A, Roche W, Wells JSG, Correction to: an exploratory non-randomized study of a 3-month electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) intervention with people

accessing a homeless supported temporary accommodation service (STA) in Ireland, Harm reduction journal 2021;18(1):113

Pesola F, Smith KM, Phillips-Waller A, Przulj D, Griffiths C, Walton R, McRobbie H, Coleman T, Lewis S, Whitemore R, Clark M, Ussher M, Sinclair L, Seager E, Cooper S, Bauld L, Naughton F, Sasieni P, Manyonda I, Hajek P, Safety of e-cigarettes and nicotine patches as stop-smoking aids in pregnancy: Secondary analysis of the Pregnancy Trial of E-cigarettes and Patches (PREP) randomized controlled trial, Addiction (Abingdon, England) / 2024

Trigg J, Rich J, Williams E, Gartner CE, Guillaumier A, Bonevski B, Perspectives on limiting tobacco access and supporting access to nicotine vaping products among clients of residential drug and alcohol treatment services in Australia, Tobacco control 2023

For further details see our webpage under 'Monthly search findings': https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/research/electronic-cigarettes-for-smoking-cessation-cochrane-living-systematic-review-1

Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Dr Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Professor Reto Auer, pr