image: Jamie Hartmann-Boyce is an assistant professor of health policy and management in the UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences and a Cochrane editor.
Credit: UMass Amherst
A new study, co-led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst researcher, set out to identify the most effective strategies for helping people quit vaping. The findings, published today in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, suggest that varenicline, a prescription medication often used to help people stop smoking, and text message-based interventions can help people quit.
“This is an area of research that is in its infancy, but is growing rapidly and organically from people who vape asking about help to quit vaping,” says senior author Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy and management in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences and a Cochrane editor. “We also know that people who use vaping as a way to transition away from smoking are often keen to know how they can safely transition away from vaping without relapsing to smoking, which is really important.”
Cochrane reviews have found “high certainty evidence” that e-cigarettes lead to better chances of quitting smoking than patches, gums, lozenges or other traditional nicotine replacement therapy.
Other individuals, particularly young people who have never smoked, begin vaping and may face health risks or develop a dependency on nicotine and wish to quit vaping.
In the quit-vaping review, the team of scientists, including co-lead authors Nicola Lindson and Ailsa Butler at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, pinpointed nine relevant randomized studies involving more than 5,000 participants. The researchers aimed to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of tools that have been tested to help individuals quit vaping.
“The interventions tested are similar to those that we know work for helping people quit smoking,” Hartmann-Boyce says. “We don’t know, however, that they necessarily help people quit vaping, and that’s why it’s important that we have these trials.”
The study found that programs designed to deliver support via text messages seem to be effective for young people aged 13 to 24. The prescription medication varenicline, commonly used to help people stop smoking, was potentially effective for adults trying to quit vaping. However, due to the limited number of studies, this evidence for both approaches was low certainty and, the researchers explain, needs to be investigated further.
“With the results of our Cochrane review, healthcare professionals now have initial evidence for specific approaches they can recommend, particularly for younger people wanting to quit vaping,” Butler says. “However, we urgently need more research to explore these and other approaches.”
The text-message approach offers a mix of motivational content, as well as content around social norms and tips for ways to quit vaping. “I think it’s clear that this approach helps young people,” Hartmann-Boyce says. “The question is, is it going to help other populations?”
Hartmann-Boyce says more relevant studies are underway, and the issue will remain high priority with Cochrane. “This is a really early area of research,” she says. “This is a living, systematic review, and we’ll be searching for new evidence monthly and updating the review as it comes out, because we know that this research is evolving.”
Journal
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
DOI
Method of Research
Literature review
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Interventions for Quitting Vaping
Article Publication Date
8-Jan-2025
COI Statement
ARB's work on this review has been supported by Cancer Research UK Project Awardfunding. This is not deemed a conflict of interest. NL has received payment for lectures on systematic review methodology (Oxford UniversityHospitals NHS Foundation Trust), and has been an applicant and principal investigator onproject funding to carry out research in the area of tobacco control from the NIHR EvidenceSynthesis programme, Cancer Research UK (charity), Clarion Futures (charity), OxfordshireCounty Council and the NIHR Oxfordshire and Thames Valley ARC, and GreaterManchester NHS Integrated Care. None of this is deemed a conflict of interest. JLB was employed by the University of Oxford to work as a Managing Editor andInformation Specialist for the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Review Group before becomingan author on this review. During this time, he was involved in the editorial processing of thereview. He is now an Editor for Cochrane. Since becoming an author, he has not beeninvolved in the editorial process for this review. Core infrastructure funding for the CochraneTobacco Addiction Group was provided by the National Institute for Health and CareResearch (NIHR) to the University of Oxford. CN has received an honorarium from Vox Media for filming a 'nicotine explainer' on the roleof nicotine in addiction. This is not deemed a conflict of interest. CN is a member of theadvisory council for 'Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)'. CN is lead author of theCochrane review of Incentives for Smoking Cessation. TT has no known conflicts of interest. TT is a Cochrane editor, but was not involved in theeditorial process for this review. NAR has received royalties from UpToDate, Inc., for chapters on electronic cigarettes andoccasional fees from academic hospitals or professional medical societies for lectures onsmoking cessation that include discussion of electronic cigarettes. NAR was a member ofthe committee that produced the 2018 National Academies of Science, Engineering, andMedicine's Consensus Study Report on the Public Health Benefits of E-cigarettes. She wasunpaid for this work. NAR is employed by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Outsidethe topic of e-cigarettes, NAR previoously consulted for Achieve LifeSciences, which isdeveloping an investigational smoking cessation medication for US Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) approval (cytisine), and her institution (MGH) receives a grant from thecompany as a site for a clinical trial testing the safety and efficacy of cytisine for smokingand vaping cessation. NAR holds grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) forother research work. TRF receives funding from the NIHR Community Healthcare MedTech and In VitroDiagnostics Co-operative at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (MIC-2016-018) and theNIHR Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley at Oxford Health NHSFoundation Trust. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily thoseof the National Health Service (NHS), the National Institute for Health and Care Research(NIHR), or the Department of Health and Social Care. LD has received grants from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Public HealthResearch (PHR) September 2021 to August 2024; and the Medical Research Council(MRC) Public Health Intervention Development Scheme (PHIND) March 2021 to May 2022.LD has received consulting fees from and acted as an Advisory Board Member for thedevelopment of smoking cessation resources for Nicorette UK, Johnson & Johnson. LD'sother/non-financial interest: interviewee for TV.net Latvia: one-hour programme on e-cigarettes 23 February 2023. LD has an affiliation to the following organisations that have adeclared opinion or position on the topic: Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) (AdvisoryCouncil Member); Drug Science (Member of the Scientific Committee). Other: InvitedSpeaker: All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on vaping 19 April 2023. RB holds a National Institiute for Health Research (NIHR) grant, but this did not directly fundthis current work. ADW's work on this review has been supported by Cancer Research UK Project Awardfunding. This is not deemed a conflict of interest. LB receives funding from the NIHR Policy Research Programme. The views expressed arethose of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health Service (NHS), theNational Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), or the Department of Health andSocial Care. MC's work is supported by Cancer Research UK (Charity). She is a Cochrane ProposalEditor, but was not involved in the editorial process of this review . None of this was deemednot a conflict of interest. ES receives funding from the NIHR Policy Research Programme. The views expressed arethose of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health Service (NHS), theNational Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), or the Department of Health andSocial Care. JHB has received payment for consulting from the Truth Initiative, and payment for boardmembership from the US Food and Drug Administration. She has received funding (to herinstitution) to carry out research in the area of tobacco control from the NIHR EvidenceSynthesis programme, Cancer Research UK (charity), and the National Institutes of Healthand US Food and Drug Administration. She is a member of Health Canada's ScientificAdvisory Board for Vaping Products. None of this is deemed a conflict of interest.