Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation: a randomised controlled trial : the lancet
657 people were randomised (289 to nicotine e cigarettes, 295 to patches, and 73 to placebo e cigarettes) and were included in the intention to treat analysis. At 6 months, verified abstinence was 7 3% (21 of 289) with nicotine e cigarettes, 5 8% (17 of 295) with patches, and 4 1% (three of 73) with placebo e cigarettes (risk difference for nicotine e cigarette vs patches 1 51 95% CI 2 49 to 5 51 for nicotine e cigarettes vs placebo e cigarettes 3 16 95% CI 2 29 to 8 61 ). Achievement of abstinence was substantially lower than we anticipated for the power calculation, thus we had insufficient statistical power to conclude superiority of nicotine e cigarettes to patches or to placebo e cigarettes. We identified no significant differences in adverse events, with 137 events in the nicotine e cigarettes group, 119 events in the patches group, and 36 events in the placebo e cigarettes group. We noted no evidence of an association between adverse events and study product.
Smoking & cardiovascular disease (heart disease)
Cigarette and tobacco smoke, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes are the six major independent risk factors for coronary heart disease that you can modify or control.
Cigarette smoking is so widespread and significant as a risk factor that the Surgeon General has called it “the leading preventable cause of disease and deaths in the United States.”
Cigarette smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease by itself. When it acts with other factors, it greatly increases risk. Smoking increases blood pressure, decreases exercise tolerance and increases the tendency for blood to clot. Smoking also increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery.
Cigarette smoking is the most important risk factor for young men and women. It produces a greater relative risk in persons under age 50 than in those over 50.
Women who smoke and use oral contraceptives greatly increase their risk of coronary heart disease and stroke compared with nonsmoking women who use oral contraceptives.
Smoking decreases HDL (good) cholesterol. Cigarette smoking combined with a family history of heart disease also seems to greatly increase the risk