Giving out free vapes in emergency hospital rooms helps smokers to quit, a new study shows.
Research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) found that providing A&E patients who smoke with vapes helped more than half to either quit or reduce the deadly habit.
The trial, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and run by UEA's Norwich Clinical Trials Unit, took place across six UK hospitals.
More than half the participants the research team managed to contact six months after their visit to the emergency department had quit or reduced smoking and a third of those who quit smoking were also not vaping.
Over a third of quitters then bought vapes at shops or online
Dr. Emma Ward, the report’s lead author from UEA's Norwich Medical Schoo,l said: “There is a school of thought that vapes should only be available on prescription.
“However, our findings suggest that over a third of quitters, who were given a vape to help them quit by a healthcare professional, went on to experiment with different devices bought from shops or online.
“Some people managed to quit smoking soon after being given the vape, while others used both cigarettes and vapes for a period, taking longer than a month to quit.
“Satisfaction with vaping was important for success with quitting smoking, but personal motivation and being in a supportive environment were also significant factors."
A total of 1,010 adult daily smokers were involved in the trial, with half (505 people) receiving the free vapes in A&E.
Only participants who responded at the six month follow-up were included in the analysis for the study, resulting in a survey sample of 366 participants.
A total of 24 participants took part in interviews as part of the trial evaluation and were selected to represent the demographics of the main study sample.
People use vapes to quit smoking in different ways
The authors say the research highlights the effectiveness of vapes in helping people to quit smoking, and that people use them in different ways.
Dr Ward added: “Some people quit smoking following the intervention without long-term e-cigarette use, while others benefited from longer-term use to avoid smoking relapse.
"Those less experienced with vaping may be particularly receptive to receiving opportunistic support in a medical setting."
The findings back up a previous report by UEA earlier this year that found giving out fee vapes in A&E could result in more than 22,000 extra people quitting smoking each year.
