E-cigarettes 'help more smokers quit'

(BBC) - The rise in popularity of e-cigarettes in the UK may have resulted in more successful attempts to quit smoking, according to UK researchers.

The British Medical Journal work looked at trends in quit rates and support in England from 2006 to 2015.

E-cigarettes seem to have had no effect on the number of people trying to quit, but more have actually managed to stop.

The authors say vaping may have helped about 18,000 extra people in England successfully give up smoking in 2015.

The team, from University College London and Cancer Research UK, say theirs is an observational study, and therefore cannot prove direct cause and effect.

One smoking expert said it appeared e-cigarettes were a "major contributor" to the trend.

But health professionals say the most effective way to quit smoking remains through prescription medication and professional support from free local NHS stop-smoking services.

Electronic cigarettes are not yet widely available on the NHS.

Sales of e-cigarettes have been rising steadily since they first went on sale in the UK, in 2007. They are now used by nearly three million people in the UK.

In the past few years, they have replaced nicotine patches and gum to become the most popular choice of smoking cessation aid in England.

The BMJ research looked at data from the Smoking Toolkit Study from 2006 through to 2015.

The study also took data from the NHS Stop Smoking Service.

During the period studied, just over eight million people set dates to quit smoking.

'Something is working'

And the number of smokers who successfully managed to stop smoking increased by just under 1% for every 1% rise in the number of smokers using e-cigarettes.

Use of prescribed nicotine-replacement therapy also fell as e-cigarette use rose.