Harm reduction and tobacco smoking

Abstract

The article provides a narrative review of the rationale, arguments and evidence for the effectiveness of harm reduction strategies in reducing tobacco smoking and its consequences and offers a summary for health policy and clinical practice. Tobacco smoking is a critical health determinant in developed countries, including the Czech Republic, reducing adult life expectancy by 1-2 years and draining about 10% of health spending. Alternative products, i.e. products delivering nicotine other than in tobacco smoke, represent an opportunity to complement already implemented tobacco control measures. Their main benefit is the diversion of smokers away from conventional cigarettes towards less harmful forms of nicotine use. E-cigarettes, heated tobacco products or low-nitrosamine oral tobacco are approximately twenty times less harmful than conventional cigarettes and the risk of nicotine pouches is two to three orders of magnitude lower and reach the risk of nicotine replacement therapy or non-smokers. Nicotine contributes to the risks of alternative products, but its harmfulness is much lower compared to the other constituents of tobacco smoke. Nicotine dependence remains its major risk, and the increasing use of alternative products is of particular concern in adolescent non-smokers. However, the best available evidence suggests that alternative products do not represent a gateway to smoking and that they are replacing smoking even in the part of the adolescent population that is vulnerable to experiments with nicotine. Alternative products are also proving effective in smoking cessation and can be offered during counselling in clinical practice as an alternative to smoking for those who are not ready to quit completely. A balanced harm reduction strategy, including the supply and use of alternative products, represents an opportunity that can be a critical factor in curbing the tobacco epidemic.

Keywords: tobacco, smoking, harm reduction, nicotine alternatives, health risks, smoking cessation.