FEATURE
One form of data collected included answers from CAT questionnaires
filled out by participants. The results of these show that those using
e-cigarettes saw a 26 percent reduction in their symptoms after three
years, and the impact of the disease on their daily lives had diminished
noticeably. The paper states that e-cigarette use, “may be exploited as a
less harmful strategy to potentially halt or reverse COPD related outcomes
and, in general, to reduce the risk of smoking related diseases”. Meanwhile
the smoking control group reported no significant changes in their CAT scores.
Over the three-year observation period, a number of patients using
vapes down staged on the GOLD COPD guidelines, which measures
the severity and stages of the disease. Some who were classed as levels
three and four – severe and very severe – moved to categories two and
three, moderate and severe. In the smoking control group, there was
no movement between the GOLD COPD levels, which measure airflow
limitation.
The report outlines that despite showing no change in the smoking control
group, “the finding that COPD exacerbations were halved in patients who
stopped or considerably reduced their smoking habit following switching
to ECs [e-cigarettes] was an important finding.”
A Danish population study conducted in 2002 boasts similar results,
showing that quitting smoking was associated with a significant decline
in hospital admissions as well as a reduction in COPD morbidity at
roughly 40 percent.
Professor John Newton, the director of health improvement at Public
Health England, says along with Cancer Research UK, The Royal College
of Physicians, The British Medical Association and The National Academy
of Sciences: “There is no situation where it would be better for your
health to continue smoking rather than switching completely to vaping.”
This latest study throws weight behind the argument for the NHS to act
quickly in training healthcare officials to offer advice and recommend
using vape devices as a viable alternative to smoking.
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