More than half of the participants experienced an improvement in their breathing
During the winter meeting of the British Thoracic Society, held on Thursday, December 3 in London, a team from the Croydon’s stop smoking and lung health services (London) presented the results of a pilot study conducted on 50 patients and users of the stop smoking services. Their investigation confirms the potential of the electronic cigarette to reduce or stop smoking.
The 50 people interviewed by the Croydon Respiratory Team (CRT) were all smokers or ex-smokers, 35% of them had been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 80% of respondents had used the e-cigarette alone or in combination with other nicotine substitutes. 42% had reduced their smoking and 38% had stopped smoking completely. And 52% experienced an improvement in their breathing, 18% a reduction in their sputum.
The medical team noted that all respondents wanted to stop smoking cigarettes but none had given him/herself a time limit to stop vaping.
Dr. Sanjay Agrawal (Chair of the British Thoracic Society’s Tobacco Special Advisory Group) said it was vital to explore every opportunity to help people quit smoking. Given their popularity, “we need to study how we can best use their potential – alongside all the other ways to stop smoking”. Recognizing that it is definitely less dangerous than tobacco, pneumologists considered essential to continue to study the effects long-term effects.
We know that in the UK 10 million people are smokers among which 2:3 wants to stop, and would become potential users of such health services, 2.6 million people are vapers. Most vapers are ex smokers so one can expect in the coming years around 10 million of vapers, according to the figures.
