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. 2021 Jan 12;8(3):9463.
doi: 10.4081/hpr.2020.9463. eCollection 2020 Dec 30.

Well-being and harm reduction, the consolidated reality of electronic cigarettes ten years later from this emerging phenomenon: A narrative review

Pasquale Caponnetto

Well-being and harm reduction, the consolidated reality of electronic cigarettes ten years later from this emerging phenomenon: A narrative review

Pasquale Caponnetto. Health Psychol Res. .

Abstract

Tobacco use is the greatest threat to public health worldwide, killing more than seven million people annually. This paper, about 10 years after the first review on electronic cigarettes, analyses the evolution that this tool has had in these years. It concludes with comments on the significance of the research and why it constitutes an original contribution. We searched PubMed (National Library of Medicine), and PsycINFO (Ovid) (2006-2020) for studies on e-cigarettes (harms and benefits, e-cigarette use, craving and smoking cessation) and smoking cessation treatment (smoking cessation treatment or varenicline or tobacco cessation or reduction or bupropion or NRT or behavioral treatment or ecigarette) and evidence suggests that they may effective as smoking cessation tool and may be less harmful alternatives to combustible cigarette smoking. Consequently, e-cigarettes could be considered as an applicable instrument for Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) and smoking cessation.

Keywords: Smoking; e-cigarette; harm reduction; smoking cessation; smoking reduction.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: PC is paid by the University of Catania as an external part time researcher and adjunct professor of clinical, addiction and general psychology. He has been affiliated to the CoEHAR since December 2019 in a pro bono role. He is co-author of a protocol paper supported by an Investigator-Initiated Study award program established by Philip Morris International in 2017.

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