USPSTF recommends clinicians ask all adults about tobacco use

They are unable to decide whether to support or reject or endorse e-cigarettes.

Presently, there are at least 2 million ex-smokers using e-cigarettes in the United States.

Research Director at ScotCen Social Research Diarmid Campbell-Jack said: “These findings confirm that e-cigarettes are being used by a small, but not insignificant proportion of people in Scotland with one in every twenty saying that they now use electric cigarettes”. The surgeon general now says there is not enough evidence to conclude e-cigarettes are healthier alternative to tobacco smoking, nor is there evidence to show they can help smokers kick the habit.

One of the two trials involved about 650 smokers and found no significant difference in smoking cessation after six months for e-cigarettes containing liquid nicotine, e-cigarettes without nicotine, or nicotine patches.

There isn’t enough evidence yet to say whether e-cigarettes are safe or effective for helping people quit smoking, new US guidelines on tobacco cessation conclude.

Maureen Watt, Scottish Government Minister for Public Health, said: “This survey gives us some useful information about what the situation is in Scotland”. For pregnant women, the USPSTF recommends that clinicians ask about tobacco use, advise about stopping tobacco use, and provide behavioral interventions for cessation (Grade A recommendation); for pregnant women, the evidence is insufficient to weigh the balance of benefits and harms of pharmacotherapy for tobacco cessation (I statement).

The use of e-cigarettes as a potential coping mechanism by smokers attempting to quit has been noted by some health campaigners.

New data by the Florida Department of Health shows that e-cigarette use among teens nearly tripled over the past two years, with 15.8 percent of high schoolers having puffed on the nicotine-laced vapor this year.

But while smoking tobacco has dropped, the use of electronic cigarettes has grown quickly.

So far, there have been no certainties of all of the long-term health impacts or benefits of e-cigarettes, but this doesn’t mean that we know nothing. Some people find it easier than they expected just to stop. For some, changing their habits works best.