E-cigarettes and smoking cessation: AP-HP is looking for volunteers

In 2018, the Paris Public Hospitals Association (AP-HP) launched the national ECSMOKE study in hospitals and a dispensary*. This study focuses on the role of e-cigarettes in smoking cessation and attempts to determine whether this product can be considered an approved device. A call for volunteers was launched as part of this study. It is still ongoing, with France now home to 1.7 million vapers.

Vaping or varenicline?

The objective of ECSMOKE is to compare the effects of e-cigarettes (with or without nicotine) with those of a drug already used in smoking cessation: varenicline. Another goal is to more precisely estimate the benefits/risks associated with e-cigarettes, particularly in the long term. According to Public Health France, "its use has spread significantly since the early 2010s. Despite rather encouraging feedback from smoking cessation professionals, there is still a lack of perspective and robust scientific data on its effects in terms of helping people quit smoking, its safety, and its "gateway" effect to smoking, particularly among young people." The High Council for Public Health believes that it can lead to smoking and carries a risk of "renormalizing tobacco consumption."

The desired profile of cigarette smokers

The AP-HP is seeking participants aged 18 to 70 who have smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day for at least a year. Participants are treated for six months. The study required 650 people. However, in 2020, only 328 smokers could be recruited.

How the study works

Participants are provided with an electronic cigarette with adjustable power, specific liquids with a blond tobacco flavor (either with 12 mg/ml nicotine or without nicotine), and varenicline tablets or placebos. The volunteers are randomly assigned to three groups:

- a placebo group (placebo tablets + nicotine-free liquids),

- a nicotine group (placebo tablets + liquids with nicotine),

- a varenicline group (varenicline tablets + nicotine-free liquids).

The AP-HP specifies that "treatments will be made available free of charge and that support will include advice on how to quit smoking." Smoking cessation must occur within 7 to 15 days of starting the protocol. Furthermore, "participants who relapse will remain part of the study and will be monitored in the same way," the AP-HP emphasizes.

Regular monitoring of cigarette smokers

A tobacco consultation will be arranged before the start of treatment, followed by six follow-up visits. The assessment will be conducted using questionnaires as well as clinical and laboratory tests. The primary endpoint remains the rate of continuous smoking abstinence during the last four weeks of a three-month treatment period.

  Link to the explanatory video of the study: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaLKomwos9Y&feature=youtu.be *Angers, Bordeaux, Caen, Clamart, Clermont-Ferrand, La Rochelle, Lille, Lyon, Nancy, Nîmes, Paris (Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital and Tenon Hospital) and Poitiers.   ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Call for volunteers for e-cigarette study, www.santemagazine.fr (September 18, 2020 - consulted September 21, 2020). DNF - For a Zero Tobacco World |