Madrid
Updated:
Save
Are all tobacco-related products equally harmful? According to a Rutgers University (USA) study, many US health professionals have misconceptions that they are less likely to recommend e-cigarettes to those seeking to quit smoking or receiving treatment for a disease caused by tobacco.
Although not recommended by most health agencies around the world, many people ask their doctors if they can use them as an alternative to tobacco cigarettes or as a way to help them quit smoking.
“As evidence mounts showing that e-cigarettes are potentially effective for smoking cessation, they may play a critical role in reducing cigarette use and, subsequently, tobacco-caused disease,” notes the author of the study. study, Michael Steinberg.
“It is important to understand clinicians’ perspectives on e-cigarettes as a means of harm reduction.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the tobacco epidemic is one of the greatest threats to public health that the world has had to face. It kills more than 8 million people a year.
Tobacco is harmful in all its forms and there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco, says the WHO, which includes in its recommendations other tobacco products such as heated tobacco products (HTP), such as iQOS that generate aerosols that contain nicotine and other toxic substances by heating tobacco or activating a device that contains it, or electronic cigarettes, with or without nicotine, which, although they do not contain tobacco, are harmful to health and are not safe.
The study, published in « JAMA Network Open », asked 2,058 US doctors in 2018 and later in 2019 about the information they provide to patients about electronic cigarettes.
The researchers asked how they would counsel two different patients who wanted to quit: a young woman who was a light smoker and had not yet tried to quit, and an older man who was a heavy smoker and had tried to quit many times using different methods.
The study found that doctors were significantly more likely to recommend e-cigarettes for heavy smokers while recommending approved medications, such as nicotine gum or patches, for light smokers.
Nearly 70% of physicians reported that patients had asked them about e-cigarettes, and a third said they had been asked in the past 30 days. More than 60% of doctors incorrectly believed that all tobacco products are equally harmful.
“These findings show that it is critical to address clinicians’ misperceptions and educate them about the efficacy of e-cigarettes, in particular by correcting their misperceptions that all tobacco products are equally harmful, as opposed to the fact that tobacco burns it is by far the most dangerous,” says lead author Cristine Delnevo.
The Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery, in its official statement on electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco devices, which are marketed in Spain under the IQOS brand, points out that inhalation of aerosols and fumes generated by these devices is toxic to health. “Nor can they be recommended as methods to quit smoking after the contradictory results of different clinical trials and meta-analyses, especially when there are already safe and effective treatments such as varenicline, nicotine replacement therapy and bupropion, together with psychological counseling».
Since 2013, SEPAR has maintained a clear position against e-cigarettes and other electronic devices, verifying that they contain toxic substances that are harmful to health. “Despite this, we are witnessing an increase in the sales of these devices, especially among adolescents and young people. Some tobacco companies have entered the market and the strategy has been established that these devices are a good method to quit smoking. For this reason, at SEPAR we thought that this was the moment to develop a new document, with updated evidence on its safety and efficacy”, they assure from SEPAR.
In addition, “the conclusions obtained after the review of the studies carried out indicate that the use of these devices produces health risks and does not help to quit smoking, therefore, we propose that they be considered as tobacco products and comply with the current legislation regarding the consumption, sale and advertising of tobacco, in addition to having the same tax burden as cigarettes.
In this sense, SEPAR considers that the aggressive advertising campaigns that promote the use of these electronic devices that are generating confusion in the general population should be prohibited. It would also be very important that these devices could not be sold in normal stores, only in those places that the law allows and their packaging must show all the health warnings that tobacco packages show, that is, written notices and graphics that alert consumers consumers of the health risks that their consumption may have.
See them
comments