Nicotine vapes best chance to quit smoking, major review finds

Smokers who want to quit have the best chance of doing so if they use nicotine e-cigarettes, a review has found.

The Cochrane team looked at 80 major trials involving nearly 30,000 people and found that nicotine vapes were more effective than traditional aids such as patches, gum and support plans - increasing the success rate by about 60%, from around six in every 100 managing to quit smoking to one in every 10.

They outperformed non-nicotine vapes too, although researchers say switching to these afterwards might help with weaning off nicotine.

And they could prove more effective than the new anti-smoking pill cytisine , external , which the NHS has started to roll out - although more research is needed.

Experts say vaping, although not entirely risk-free, is far safer than smoking.

In the UK, there are now more over-16s using vapes or e-cigarettes than smoking cigarettes, figures show . Around 5.3 million people or 10% of adults say they smoke, while around 5.4 million use vapes daily or occasionally.

The review , external of the most recent and best quality evidence to date applies to regulated vapes that are checked for quality and compliant with strict safety laws.

It doesn't look at unregulated ones that can contain illicit substances, like spice or THC.