Hamilton, ON, Oct. 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A recent study, “COPD smokers who switched to e-cigarettes: health outcomes at 5-year follow up,” has found that smokers with COPD who switched to vaping ameliorate some harm associated with smoking and benefits persist long term. The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) believes the medical community must review these types of studies to better understand vaping as harm reduction and educate their patients on the true relative risk of vapour products.

“The significant reductions in toxic exposures from substituting EC for conventional cigarette consumption is expected to bring about substantial health gains. ECs as a THR strategy may save more lives more swiftly than possible previously. However, the odds of completely abstaining from conventional cigarettes for EC users are variable. Most studies suggesting low quit rates for ECs have investigated earlier poor quality vaping products with inadequate nicotine delivery profile. On the contrary, more recent (and better designed) randomised controlled trials (RCTs) using high-quality vaping products are now showing remarkable quit rates – even compared with NRTs,” said researchers.

Of the survey’s 1190 participants, 75.7% stated that they had benefits in respiratory symptoms after switching and less than 1% reported a worsening of systems. Additionally, the study found a marked reduction in yearly exacerbations of COPD and overall health improvements. A 3 year follow up confirmed that these improvements persisted long term.

“Over the last several years, the medical community has stated that the risks of vaping were largely unknown. Fortunately, this is no longer the case. There is now a body of research to support vaping as less harmful than smoking and more effective than nicotine replacement therapy products. The CVA urges health professionals to review the science and encourage patients to reduce their harm through vaping,” said Darryl Tempest, Executive Director of the CVA.

As noted in the study, and long promoted by the CVA, vapour products should only be used by smokers to reduce their harm, youth and non-smokers should not vape. However, for smokers the growing evidence of vaping’s harm reduction potential should provide the confidence they need to make the switch and understand their relative risk compared to combustible tobacco.