Vaping could help smokers in quitting the habit
Smokers could give themselves a better chance of quitting if they completely switch to vaping, according to a new review.
E-cigarettes are 70% more effective at helping smokers quit than the use of nicotine replacement therapy, according to the review by the Cochrane Collaborative.
The findings also come as public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) publish figures showing e-cigarette uptake dropped in 2020 compared to 2019.
Data from ASH from their annual survey with YouGov found that in March 2020 there were 3.2million e-cigarette users in Great Britain down from 3.6 million in 2019.
In the NorthEast there were about 154,990 people vaping in 2020 compared to 169,700 in 2019.
Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of ASH, said: “About a third of smokers have never even tried an e-cigarette and less than 20% ar using one.
"If many more smokers could be encouraged to give e-cigarettes a go the latest evidence indicates that many more might successful quit.”
Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh, said: “For anyone smoking, switching completely to vaping will help to reduce your risks, save you money and most importantly improve your chances of quitting for good.
"Tobacco smoking kills one in two long term smokers, and North East hospitals see tens of thousands of hospital admissions every year from smoking. But vaping is not smoking and we do need to end the confusion around this.
"Most people who vape are doing so with the aimof switching from tobacco. E-cigarettes are now the country's most popular quitting aid, and we need to support anyone using them to stay tobacco free.”