Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 24 May 2018
E-cigarettes disappoint in a workplace quit-smoking study

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE useless,” said Georges
Associated Press Touaichi, a 22-year-old San
It’s a big question for smok- Diego hotel worker who
ers and policymakers alike: tried e-cigarettes but went
Do electronic cigarettes back to smoking after a
help people quit? In a large day or two.
study of company wellness An FDA spokesman said the
programs, e-cigarettes agency was pondering the
worked no better than tra- results, but that this is not
ditional stop-smoking tools, the type of study needed
and the only thing that re- to evaluate safety and ef-
ally helped was paying fectiveness of e-cigarettes
folks to kick the habit. for smoking cessation.
Critics of the study say it LUNG CANCER RATES
doesn’t close the case on For the other study in the
these popular vaping prod- journal, researchers used
ucts. It didn’t rigorously test U.S. cancer registries and
effectiveness, just com- federal health statistics
pared e-cigarettes to oth- to track new lung cancer
er methods among 6,000 cases by gender and race
smokers who were offered over various time periods.
help to quit. That’s still valu- Rates historically have
able information because been higher in men but
it’s what happens in daily that trend reversed among
life. whites and Hispanics born
Providing e-cigarettes “did since the mid-1960s.
not improve the number For example, among
of people who quit com- people ages 45 to 49 and
pared to essentially do- diagnosed from 1995 to
ing nothing,” said Dr. Scott In this Feb. 20, 2014 file photo, a customer exhales vapor from an e-cigarette at a store in New 1999, rates in women were
Halpern of the University York. 26 percent lower than for
of Pennsylvania. “The very Associated Press men. But in a more recent
best way to help them quit time period, 2010 to 2014,
is to offer them money.” in 54 company wellness — from 0.7 percent to near- ic” because smokers were women had an 8 percent
He led the study, published programs and asked those ly 13 percent — among automatically enrolled and higher incidence rate than
Wednesday by the New who didn’t want to join to 1,200 smokers who actively may not have wanted to men, said one study lead-
England Journal of Medi- opt out. Only 125 did, but participated. quit. “You’re just thrusting er, the American Cancer
cine. It was sponsored by the vast majority of the COST the product on people,” Society’s Ahmedin Jemal.
the Vitality Group, which rest didn’t actively partici- Average costs were less he said. Dr. Nancy Rigotti, Women are catching up
runs company wellness pate yet their results were than a dollar per par- director of the tobacco to men in smoking rates —
programs. The makers of tracked as part of the ticipant in the usual care research and treatment 14 percent smoke versus
NJOY e-cigarettes provid- study. group and around $100 for center at Massachusetts 17 percent of men — but
ed them but had no role in They were put into five those given redeemable General Hospital who was that’s not enough to ex-
the research. groups: usual care, which cash accounts. But when on the expert panel, said it plain the switch, he said.
Separately in the journal, was information on ben- looked at per successful was a well-done study that Women also smoke fewer
another study reports that efits of quitting and motiva- quitter, the cash programs gives “a little discouraging cigarettes than men.
lung cancer rates are now tional text messages; free cost less than e-cigarettes and surprising” results. The One theory is that certain
higher for white and His- quit-smoking aids such as or traditional methods. value of traditional meth- types of lung cancer are
panic women under 50 nicotine patches and med- Most big companies of- ods is well established, so more common in women
than for men that age, a icines like Chantix or Zyban fer stop-smoking programs counseling and support and the risk of them de-
reversal of a longtime trend plus e-cigarettes if those and half of them offer fi- might have been inade- clines more slowly after
that can’t be explained by failed; free e-cigarettes nancial incentives, study quate in this study, she said. someone quits, and wom-
smoking patterns alone. without any requirement leaders said. It costs com- Others were critical of the en have lagged behind
VAPING TO QUIT SMOKING to try other methods first; panies $3,000 to 6,000 more study’s methods. David men in cessation rates, said
E-cigarettes are battery- free quit-smoking aids and per year to employ a smok- Abrams, a former tobacco Caitlin Murphy of the Sim-
powered devices that va- a $600 reward if people er versus a non-smoker. researcher at the National mons Cancer Center at UT
porize nicotine. They’ve were abstinent six months WHAT OTHERS SAY Institutes of Health and now Southwestern in Dallas.
been sold in the U.S. since later; and free cessation “E-cigarettes are substan- at New York University, said “Maybe women are get-
2007 and contain less toxic tools plus $600 placed in tially less harmful than researchers don’t know ting diagnosed more of-
substances than traditional an account at the start of burned or lit cigarettes, but how many in each group ten through CT screening,”
cigarettes. The Food and the study that they’d lose if that doesn’t mean they’re actually used the quit- which also would boost
Drug Administration is mull- they didn’t quit. helpful for cessation” and smoking tools. their rates compared to
ing how to regulate them, The results: Only 0.1 percent they’re not regulated for “You can’t conclude that men, said Murphy, who
and earlier this year, a in the usual care group suc- that, said Cliff Douglas, the the treatments didn’t work had no role in the work.
national panel of experts ceeded; rates ranged from American Cancer Society’s if nobody used them,” said For smokers who are 50,
said vaping may help folks 0.5 percent to nearly 3 per- tobacco policy expert. Abrams, who called e- “if they quit now they can
reduce smoking but that cent for the rest. The groups Gregory Conley, who cigarettes “the best thing gain about six years of life,”
more research is needed. offered cash did best; rates heads the American Vap- that’s come along in 10 Jemal said. “They have this
The new study differed among the other groups ing Association, said the years to help people quit.” opportunity to avoid not
from usual studies of smok- did not differ much from type used in this study is A smoker took a different only lung cancer but also
ers wanting to quit: It auto- each other. obsolete, and all of the view. other causes of smoking-
matically enrolled smokers Success rates were higher methods proved “pathet- “For me personally, it was related deaths.”q