Study Finds Effective Approaches to Quit Vaping - Video

A new study published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, suggest that varenicline, a prescription medication often used to help people stop smoking, and text message-based interventions can help people quit vaping.

In the quit-vaping review, the team of scientists pinpointed nine relevant randomized studies involving more than 5,000 participants. The researchers aimed to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of tools that have been tested to help individuals quit vaping.

The study found that programs designed to deliver support via text messages seem to be effective for young people aged 13 to 24. The prescription medication varenicline, commonly used to help people stop smoking, was potentially effective for adults trying to quit vaping. However, due to the limited number of studies, this evidence for both approaches was low certainty and, the researchers explain, needs to be investigated further.

The text-message approach offers a mix of motivational content, as well as content around social norms and tips for ways to quit vaping. “I think it’s clear that this approach helps young people,” Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy and management in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences and a Cochrane editor. “The question is, is it going to help other populations?”

Hartmann-Boyce says more relevant studies are underway, and the issue will remain high priority with Cochrane. “This is a really early area of research,” she says. “This is a living, systematic review, and we’ll be searching for new evidence monthly and updating the review as it comes out, because we know that this research is evolving.”