“Do e-cigarettes actually help people quit smoking?” The Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, is recruiting smokers who vape (i.e., dual users) for a clinical trial that, according to spokesman Vani Nath Simmons (here), aims to answer that question. Researchers will be using federal grants to convince smoker-vapers to quit smoking, and possibly to quit vaping, by sending them self-help booklets.
The researchers, led by Thomas Brandon,
Ph.D., have long been interested in providing smokers low-cost self-help
interventions for quitting and preventing relapse. They mail study participants booklets called
“Forever Free,” teaching them “how to resist urges to smoke.” The researchers have published the results of
several trials, each of which involved minor variations in design and frequency
of booklet mailings. Here are some
results:
| Results Of Moffitt-Based Clinical Trials Employing Self-Help Booklets | ||
|---|---|---|
| Publication, date | Main Outcome | Main Result |
| Addiction, 2015 | Relapse prevention | No effect |
| American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2015 | Abstinence | Booklets better |
| Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2016 | Relapse prevention | No effect |
| Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2000 | Relapse prevention | Booklets better |
The first study was conducted in Britain; the next two, in the U.S., were supported by National Cancer Institute grants totaling about $5 million over the period 2009-2013. According to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine report, the booklets helped smokers abstain in one cessation trial. They were mailed to smokers at two rates, standard (8 booklets over 12 months) or intensive (10 over 18 months with other mailings on alternate months). The control group only received one booklet at the beginning of the trial. At 24 months, 19% of this group reported that they hadn’t smoked in the past week. The non-smoking rate was 24% in the control group and 30% (significantly higher) in the intensive group.
In 2000, Dr. Brandon reported that former smokers who
received booklets had lower relapse rates than smokers who had access to a
telephone hot line (12% vs. 35%).
Dr. Brandon has been quoted noting the relative merits of
e-cigarettes compared to cigarettes (here),
and Moffitt spokesman Simmons acknowledged, “We can say that it is very
unlikely that they [e-cigarettes] are as harmful as regular tobacco cigarettes
because you aren’t being exposed to the tar and the cancer-causing chemicals.”
In the current trial, the booklets are modified specifically
for vapers, as reflected in the title, “If You Vape: Guide to Quitting Smoking”. However, the formal description of the study,
as filed with the NIH (here),
includes among its objectives producing tobacco abstinence among subjects and
terminating “their e-cigarette
use as per traditional nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).” One hopes that this study will not embrace the
disease-treat-cure model for influencing consumer behavior (here
and here).
Note: This post was updated with additional information on
July 29, 2016.
2 comments:
I know many vapers who volunteered for Moffit's studies (believing that the study's would vindicate vaping).
One of Moffitt's surveys found that 79% of vapers (who enrolled in the survey) had completely quit smoking, but that information was buried in a data table and wasn't mentioned in the abstract. I wrote about it at:
https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/threads/dhhs-funded-moffitt-cancer-center-survey-found-79-of-vapers-quit-smoking-but.725563/
I have no urges to smoke BECAUSE I vape. One of my relapses came after 10 years. That won't happen again BECAUSE vaping is a superior experience in every respect and BECAUSE it saves me thousands of dollars a year ($3,000 a year for cigarettes vs. $30 for eliquid mixed at home). All the medical community and governments need to do now to end the Tobacco Age is NOTHING. I wish they would please shut up and butt out.
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