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Cancer patients who use e-cigarettes to help them quit smoking tobacco actually end up more dependent on nicotine, new research suggests.
A study of cancer sufferers found those who used the new devices, which have become popular in recent years, are barely more likely to quit smoking than those on conventional cigarettes.
And researchers found those already using e-cigarettes when beginning stop-smoking programmes were more hooked on nicotine than their smoking peers.
Addictive: A woman smokes an e-cigarette, which delivers a nicotine buzz without the tar of normal cigarettes
The findings, published online by the journal Cancer, raise serious doubts about the potential benefits of e-cigarettes for helping cancer patients give up smoking.
Because of the risks of persistent smoking, doctors say all cancer patients who smoke should be advised to quit.
But the rising use of e-cigarettes has raised questions among patients and doctors over whether e-cigarette use helps or hinders efforts to stub out the habit.
Vype Hype: The rising use of e-cigarettes raised questions among patients and doctors over whether use helps or hinders efforts to stub out the habit
Doctor Jamie Ostroff, of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York City, and colleagues studied 1,074 cancer patients who smoked and were enrolled between 2012 and 2013 in a tobacco treatment programme.
The researchers observed a three-fold increase in e-cigarette use from 2012 to 2013 - 10.6 per cent versus 38.5 per cent.
At enrolment, e-cigarette users were more nicotine dependent than non-users, had more prior quit attempts, and were more likely to be diagnosed with lung or head and neck cancers.
When followed up, e-cigarette users were just as likely as non-users to be smoking. Seven day abstinence rates were 44.4 per cent for e-cigarette users versus 43.1 per cent for cigarette smokers.
Dr Ostroff said: 'Consistent with recent observations of increased e-cigarette use in the general population, our findings illustrate that e-cigarette use among tobacco-dependent cancer patients has increased within the past two years.'
She stressed that the study had several limitations, and additional studies are required, adding: 'Controlled research is needed to evaluate the potential harms and benefits of e-cigarettes as a potential cessation approach for cancer patients.
'In the meantime, oncologists should advise all smokers to quit smoking traditional combustible cigarettes, encourage use of FDA-approved cessation medications, refer patients for smoking cessation counseling, and provide education about the potential risks and lack of known benefits of long-term e-cigarette use.'
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