Electronic cigarettes are similarly effective to nicotine patches in helping smokers quit and have potential to improve the population's health, researchers have concluded in the first clinical trial to compare the two smoking cessation techniques.

The two-year trial involving 657 smokers in New Zealand found that 7.3 per cent of smokers using e-cigarettes were still abstinent after six months, compared with 5.8 per cent of those using patches and 4.1 per cent of those given a placebo.  

Despite the higher proportion of quitters in the e-cigarette group, the low overall quit rate did not provide enough "statistical power" to conclude "superiority" of e-cigarettes to patches - or to either over placebo -  the researchers said in The Lancet on Saturday (September 7).

After six months, 7.3 per cent of smokers using e-cigarettes were still abstinent, compared with 5.8 per of those using patches	More on e-cigarettes E-cig regulation could cause millions of smoker       deaths, academics warn Pharmacists continue to stock e-cigarettes despite       MHRA warnings E-cigarettes to be licensed as medicines by 2016
	However their findings pointed to the potential for e-cigarettes in smoking cessation, they concluded.   The sustained enthusiasm for e-cigarettes, with 88 per cent of smokers in the e-cigarette group compared with 56 per cent in the patches group stating they would recommend their allocated product, suggested that e-cigarettes could have "potential for improving population health", they added.

The study, led by Chris Bullen, director of the National Institute for Health Innovation at the University of Auckland, found that most participants relapsed within 50 days of trying to quit. The median time for relapsing among the e-cigarette group was 35 days, compared to 14 days among the patch group and 12 days for people using a placebo.  

By six months, 57 per cent of e-cigarette users had reduced the number of cigarettes they smoked by at least half, compared with 41 per cent of the patch users.  

The researchers also found that a higher number and proportion of adverse events occurred in the nicotine e-cigarette group than in the patches group. However, they concluded that none of the adverse events was related to the products and longer term data was needed.  

"Uncertainty exists about the place of e-cigarettes in tobacco control and more research is needed to clearly establish their overall benefits and harms at both individual and population levels," the researchers said.  

In June, the MHRA announced plans to start licensing e-cigarettes as medicines by 2016. It said that that none of the products already on the market that it had tested would meet licensing standards.  

Public Health England (PHE) launched its Stoptober campaign yesterday (September 9) urging smokers in England and Wales to quit for 28 days from October 1.  

The health body said £125 million was saved by the 160,000 people who gave up cigarettes last October, supported by pharmacists giving out  free support packs  to help customers quit smoking.