The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has funded a trial that offered advice, an e-cigarette starter pack, and referral to stop smoking services to people attending A&E for any reason, to help them to stop smoking.
Six months later, almost one in four people given the starter packs said they had quit smoking.
Further, the study found that those who received the packs but didn’t quit altogether, were more likely to have reduced the number of cigarettes they smoked.
The trial, which was run by the Norwich Clinical Trials Unit at UEA, took place across six UK hospitals, and the research team now hope that the initiative will be rolled out to hospitals nationwide.
Attending the emergency department offers a valuable opportunity for people to be supported to quit smoking
Dr Ian Pope, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School and an emergency physician, said: “Emergency departments in England see more than 24 million people each year of whom around a quarter are current smokers.”
“Attending the emergency department offers a valuable opportunity for people to be supported to quit smoking, which will improve their chances of recovery from whatever has brought them to hospital, and also prevent future illness,” Pope continued.
“Swapping to e-cigarettes could save thousands of lives. We believe that if this intervention was widely implemented it could result in more than 22,000 extra people quitting smoking each year,” Pope concluded.
Trial co-lead Prof Caitlin Notley, also from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “Many people who smoke want to quit, but find it difficult to succeed in the long term.”
“Electronic cigarettes mimic the experience of cigarette smoking because they are hand-held and generate a smoke-like vapour when used,” Notley continued.
As this was only a trial, people who smoke are reminded that A&E departments are not currently handing out free vapes
They can be an attractive option for helping people switch from smoking, even if they have tried and failed in the past,” Notley explained.
“We know that they are much less harmful than smoking tobacco, and that they have been shown to help smokers quit,” Notley concluded.
The study, co-designed and managed with the help of Norwich Clinical Trials Unit, ran over 30 months across six hospitals in England and Scotland – at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, the Royal London Hospital and Homerton University Hospital in London, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
A total of 972 people who smoked who agreed to take part were randomly assigned to receive either smoking advice, an e-cigarette starter pack, and referral to local stop smoking services or just ‘usual care’ written information about locally available stop-smoking services.
Six months later, almost one in four people given the starter packs said they had quit smoking
Both groups of patients were asked if they were still smoking one, three, and six months after they attended hospital. Those who reported quitting after six months were asked to undergo a carbon monoxide breath test.
This research was led by UEA and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in collaboration with the University of York, the University of Leicester, the University of Edinburgh, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Barts NHS Trust, Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust, NHS Lothian, Homerton University Hospital NHS Trust, and Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.
As this was only a trial, people who smoke are reminded that A&E departments are not currently handing out free vapes.
It comes as the government banned disposable vapes as a strategic move to safeguard children's health.