E-cigarettes are relatively safe

Julia Korowski, XX2 century

Electronic cigarettes do not cause serious side effects – these are the results of an updated review by Cochrane, an international non–profit organization that tests the effectiveness of medical technologies (Hartmann-Boyce et al., Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation).

A meta-analysis published by Cochrane in December 2014 showed that e-cigarettes help to quit smoking. Data from 11 observational studies have been added to the new version, but there are no results of new randomized controlled clinical trials on the long-term effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a method of quitting smoking in the 2016 review. But this area of research is actively developing, and in a few years the meta-analysis is likely to be replenished with them. Currently, 27 clinical trials are being conducted on electronic cigarettes.

In the original review, the authors analyzed data from two randomized clinical trials in which 662 people participated. They concluded that e-cigarettes containing nicotine are significantly more effective at quitting smoking than placebo (cigarettes without nicotine). The quality of the data, in general, was recognized as low, since the conclusions were based on a small number of works. The latest version includes additional data from 11 observational studies. None of these studies have recorded serious side effects of electronic cigarettes for a period of use up to two years, and the most common adverse events were irritation of the oral cavity and throat (recall, however, that some time ago a research group from Harvard warned consumers of electronic cigarettes against using liquids with certain flavors that may contain diacetyl).

"Compared to the previous version of the review, the data of randomized studies on smoking cessation have not changed," says Jamie Hartmann–Boyce, lead author of the meta-analysis. "Since it came out, 11 new observational uncontrolled studies have been published. They cannot give the same information that we received from randomized controlled trials, but they provide data on the side effects of e-cigarettes. None of them recorded serious adverse events, but we need data on longer–term use of cigarettes," he adds.

Cochrane (Cochrane, former name – Cochrane Collaboration, "Cochrane Collaboration") – an international non-profit organization that studies the effectiveness of medical technologies (healthcare technologies) by critically evaluating, analyzing and synthesizing the results of scientific research using a strict systematized methodology that is constantly being improved. The organization publishes the results of these studies in the form of systematic reviews in The Cochrane Library database. The name of the organization is associated with the name of epidemiologist Archibald Leman Cochrane. Cochrane unites more than 37,000 volunteer scientists from 130 countries of the world, in Russia on the basis of Kazan Federal University, as a branch of the Northern (Scandinavian) Cochrane Center (The Nordic Cochrane Centre), the Cochrane Russia - Cochrane Russia Coordination Center has been established.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  17.10.2016