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Review Article
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| Electronic cigarettes: Should health professionals oppose use by their patients? | ||||||
| Emma S Lydall1, Brian Eadon2, Hugo C van Woerden3 | ||||||
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1PhD, Public Health Wales, Unit 1 Charnwood Court Heol Billingsley Parc Nantgarw Cardiff CF15 7QZ.
2MPH, MBA, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Wrexham Maelor Hospital, Wrexham, LL13 7TD. 3PhD, Institute of Primary Care & Public Health, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Neuadd Meirionnydd, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4YS. | ||||||
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| How to cite this article |
| Lydall ES, Eadon B, van Woerden HC. Electronic cigarettes: Should health professionals oppose use by their patients?. Edorium J Public Health 2013;1(1):1–6. |
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Abstract
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Aims:
Electronic cigarettes are rapidly becoming the most popular type of tobacco-free nicotine product sold in the UK. The aim of this review was to summarize existing literature on the potential risks and benefits posed by e-cigarettes.
Methods: A thorough search of relevant databases was undertaken using the search terms: electronic cigarette/s, e-cigarette/s, e-cig/s, electronic nicotine delivery system/s. Results: Electronic cigarettes contain small amounts of toxic chemicals including tobacco-specific nitrosamines, which are known to be human carcinogens; impurities such as myosamine, anabasine, and beta-nicotyrine, which are considered to be harmful to humans; and diethylene glycol, which can be toxic in high doses. Mouth and throat irritation are the most commonly reported side effects in follow-up studies. However, substitution of electronic cigarettes in the homes of parents who currently smoke improves indoor air quality and should be associated with a fall in the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory illness and ear disease. Conclusion: Electronic cigarettes need standards that reduce product variation and licensing as a medicinal product to provide validated external quality assurance of ingredients and potential contaminants. However, based on their risks and benefits to others, and leaving aside the issues of their use as an aid to smoking cessation, there may be a case for their short-term use where patients have failed to give up smoking using other smoking cessation techniques to reduce exposure of others to second hand smoke. | |
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Keywords:
Electronic cigarettes, E-cigarettes, Smoking, Tobacco, Public health
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Author Contributions
Emma S Lydall – Conception and design, Drafting the article, Final approval of the version to be published Brian Eadon – Analysis and interpretation of data, Critical revision of the article, Final approval of the version to be published Hugo C van Woerden – Conception and design, Critical revision of the article, Final approval of the version to be published |
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Guarantor of submission
The corresponding author is the guarantor of submission. |
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Source of support
None |
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Conflict of interest
Authors declare no conflict of interest. |
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Copyright
© Emma S Lydall et al. 2014; This article is distributed the terms of Creative Commons attribution 3.0 License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any means provided the original authors and original publisher are properly credited. (Please see Copyright Policy for more information.) |
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About The Authors
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