Negative Findings on Use of E-Cigarettes by Cancer Patients - East Idaho News

Negative Findings on Use of E-Cigarettes by Cancer Patients

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getty 092314 vaping?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1411470583159iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The debate over the health benefits of e-cigarettes rages on with a new study apparently debunking the notion that these electronic devices can help cancer patients kick the smoking habit.

Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City wrote in the journal Cancer that smokers diagnosed with cancer who supplemented their regular cigarette use with e-cigarettes became more hooked on nicotine than people who eschewed the vapor-form of smoking.

In a test of 1,110 cancer patients between 2012 and 2013, the numbers who used e-cigarettes jumped from 11 percent to 38.5 percent.

Furthermore, patients who used e-cigarettes were as likely or even less likely to have quit smoking altogether than those who never used the devices when the researchers followed up later.

Jamie Ostroff of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center says more needs to be done to determine “the potential harms and benefits of e-cigarettes as a potential cessation approach for cancer patients.”


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