Evidence-Based Approach for Smoking Cessation is Needed

Research appreciation day (5th July), is an annual awareness day that aims to appreciate the hard work of health researchers worldwide from different fields.

Scientific research plays a fundamental role in advancing knowledge, driving innovation, informing policy decisions, and improving the overall well-being of societies. It provides evidence-based insights and strategies to guide decision-making and inform policies.

More than ever, science is in the public eye, and trust in science and medical technologies is at a crossroads, a situation exacerbated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Reliance and trust in experts and institutions are important in contexts where individuals lack the knowledge to make decisions and are unable to evaluate and understand the risks associated with a hazard.

The World Health Organization (WHO) places a strong emphasis on scientific research as a foundation for its work and decision-making processes. By prioritizing evidence-based approaches, collaborating with experts, conducting systematic reviews, developing guidelines, and supporting research capacity building, the WHO ensures that its policies and recommendations are grounded in robust scientific evidence.

As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to face the ongoing challenge of minimizing the health impact of cigarette smoking. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers the tobacco epidemic to be one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing more than eight million people worldwide every year. With the organization having been actively involved in scientific research related to nicotine and its health effects, the W.H.O. evaluated and recommended nicotine replacement therapies, such as nicotine gum, patches, inhalers, and lozenges, as aids for tobacco cessation.

With harm reduction being an evidence-based approach that is critical to engaging with people who use drugs and equipping them with tools and information to potentially save their lives, perhaps it’s time the World Health Organization considered this approach for cigarette smokers, as they have with drug users.

Research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London found that the use of vaping products rather than cigarette smoking leads to a substantial reduction in exposure to toxicants that promote cancer, lung disease, and cardiovascular disease.

A report on ‘Nicotine without smoke: Tobacco harm reduction’ by the Royal College of Physicians, also found that the hazard to health arising from long-term vapor inhalation from e-cigarettes, based on the evidence available today, is unlikely to exceed 5% of the harm from smoking tobacco.

The availability of scientifically substantiated, less risky products such as electronic cigarettes, tobacco heating products, and oral nicotine products is crucial to reducing the harm caused by smoking. Product regulations should recognize the role these alternatives can play in smoking cessation by ensuring that high-quality product standards are enforced, that consumers have access to information to make informed choices, and, critically, that underage use is prevented. Author: Joseph Magero