Experts Respond to UoC Study

Dr Jamie Hartmann-Boyce commented on whether the study is good quality research whether the conclusions are backed up by solid data: “The authors do a thorough job of investigating results from a large, representative US survey. The type of methods they use mean they can talk about associations – whether something is more or less likely – but not about causal relationships. This research cannot establish whether e-cigarettes cause more or fewer people to stop smoking.”

Speaking on how their works fits in with the existing evidence about the links between vaping and smoking cessation, she added: “There is a large, high certainty body of evidence from randomised controlled trials that nicotine e-cigarettes help people quit smoking. Randomized controlled trials are considered the best way to establish the effects of an intervention, where feasible. “

The authors of the paper claimed a strength of their study was how they accounted for confounders. Dr Hartmann-Boyce stated: “The authors have accounted for a large range of confounders but rightly note that there could be additional unmeasured confounders which affect relationships between vaping and subsequent smoking cessation. The most important limitation is that this is an observational data set, and the techniques they use cannot establish causality.”

Finally, Hartmann-Boyce addressed whether their study holds water in the real world and if they have indulged in overspeculation. She said: “The authors conclude that these data ‘suggest vaping prolongs smoking and nicotine dependence among US smokers.’ As noted above, substantial randomised controlled trial evidence – considered the gold standard – shows the opposite – namely that when you give people who smoke e-cigarettes, it helps them quit smoking.”

Following on, 

Professor Peter Hajek was the lead author who found that vapes are more effective than nicotine replacement therapies in a major UK clinical trial.

The Professor of Clinical Psychology said of the University of California paper: “The study, like several earlier ones, compared future smoking cessation in people who at baseline did and did not use vapes BUT SMOKED and reports that vaping does not help with quitting smoking. 

“This raises a question of how is that possible when randomised controlled trials as well as epidemiological data show that vaping is one of the most effective ways there are of helping smokers quit. 

“The answer is that the study used a method that automatically generates skewed results. In the vaping group, only those unable to stop smoking despite using vapes were included. Vapers who stopped smoking were excluded. 

“This makes it an obviously unfair comparison, a bit like staging a competition between two schools after removing the best competitors from one of them.”

Photo Credit:

• Images generated by author using AI, images of Hartmann-Boyce and Hajek added

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.