A major US study asked medical doctors and other health care professionals to look at scientific evidence on the efficacy of e-cigarettes as smoking cessation tool and in reducing the harm from smoking.

“As the evidence grows showing e-cigarettes as potentially effective for smoking cessation, they may play a pivotal role in reducing use of cigarettes and subsequently tobacco-caused disease,” said Michael Steinberg, medical director of the Rutgers Tobacco Dependence Program at the Center for Tobacco Studies and division chief in the Department of Medicine at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Steinberg is a co-author of a national cross-sectional survey undertaken by researchers from the Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey study, and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open in April 2022.

The survey asked 2,058 U.S. physicians from family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, pulmonary and oncology in 2018 and 2019 about their communication with patients about e-cigarettes. Data were analyzed from August to September 2021. JAMA is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association.

“It’s important to understand physicians’ perspectives on e-cigarettes as a means for harm reduction,” said Steinberg.

The study said e-cigarettes may play a pivotal role in the new US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nicotine policy framework and thus may affect tobacco use patterns throughout the country.

“Physicians’ understanding of e-cigarettes in the context of harm reduction must keep pace with the emerging scientific evidence through effective educational opportunities. Such opportunities should address e-cigarette safety and efficacy and correct misperceptions that all tobacco products are equally harmful,” the study said.

The study found that more than half of the physicians believed that all tobacco products are equally harmful, and this belief was associated with lower rates of recommending e-cigarettes. This is unfortunate as data show that 480,000 Americans die each year from smoking tobacco

“These findings show it is critical to address physicians’ misperceptions and educate them on e-cigarettes’ efficacy, particularly correcting their misperceptions that all tobacco products are equally harmful, as opposed to the fact that combusted tobacco is by far the most dangerous,” said lead author Cristine Delnevo, director of the Rutgers Center for Tobacco Studies and professor of Health Behavior, Society and Policy in the Rutgers School of Public Health.

Public health advocates encouraged physicians and other health care professionals to look at science and facts on nicotine to overcome the massive misinformation against cigarette alternatives such as vapes.

In a panel discussion during the recent Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) 2022, Dr. Roberto Sussman of the National University of Mexico said that, “anti-vaping sources such as the World Health Organization, academics, regulators, anti-tobacco NGOs and groups funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies act as merchants of doubt when citing and quoting flawed studies to cast unjustified doubt and confusion on the safety of vaping”.

Dr. John Oyston of Canada said in the same panel discussion on the topic “Misinformation: Who can we Trust” that there is a lot of disinformation about vaping in countries such as Canada, where the mainstream media, medical foundations and anti-tobacco groups spread misinformation about e-cigarettes.

“The opinion of doctors and health care professionals carry a lot of weight,” William Stewart, president and founder of Povaddo, a US-based public opinion research firm, said.

“When people lack information, they are more susceptible to misinformation. Tobacco harm reduction is a prime example of this,” said Stewart, who cited the results of a 26-country survey conducted by Povaddo showing that nearly half of those surveyed wrongly believe that e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) are more harmful than or equally harmful as cigarettes.

“Misinformation may win the sprint from time to time, but I remain confident that science and facts will ultimately win the marathon,” said Stewart.

Stewart underscored the results of another study showing that “the vast majority of adults say that decisions that impact society and public health should be made on the basis of science and facts”.

GFN is an international conference that focuses on how vapes, nicotine pouches, Swedish snus and heated tobacco products can help people switch away from smoking.

This year’s GFN with the theme ‘Tobacco Harm Reduction – here for good’ was held at the Marriott in Warsaw, Poland from June 16 to 18.