New federal health guidelines allow healthcare professionals to recommend vaping—only in certain cases—as a tool to help people quit smoking. However, it should be avoided as a first choice, in part because of the unknown long-term effects, states the guide, which focuses on smoking cessation.
In Canada, 11 per cent of the population aged 15 and older smoke tobacco, and approximately 75 per cent of them do so daily, according to 2022 data. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the country.
To support their patients who smoke, healthcare providers can consider vaping for patients who have tried other methods to quit smoking without success, “who express a strong preference for this option,” or “who are unwilling to try other interventions.”
The recommendations were published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. They were developed by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, which was created by the Public Health Agency of Canada. It is an independent committee of healthcare professionals that issues guidelines for primary care practitioners.
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“Most physicians would say that if we want to help a patient quit smoking, it’s better to start with other treatments that are better studied, that we know the side effects, that we have a better understanding of their use, and that we can use more safely,” commented Dr. Christopher Labos, a cardiologist and associate at the Organization for Science and Society at McGill University, in an interview.
“When you read the guidelines, I think the physicians who wrote them are also a little wary of e-cigarettes. They acknowledge that vaping can be used as a smoking cessation method, but that it’s not the first line of treatment and that we should try other options.”
The guide does indeed mention avoiding, in most cases, “the use of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation purposes, due to the uncertainty surrounding the use of unapproved vaping products, their potential long-term harms, and their impact on public health.”
The Risk of Becoming Addicted to Vaping
In Canada, there are three approved pharmacotherapies: bupropion and varenicline, which are in tablet form; and nicotine replacement therapy, which comes in gum, patches, lozenges, inhalers, and vaporizers. No vaping products have been approved for smoking cessation purposes in Canada.
There are a variety of vaping products on the market. Some e-cigarettes contain only water and therefore contain no chemicals. “They are really there to satisfy an oral fixation,” says Dr. Labos.
Other e-cigarettes contain nicotine. “Nicotine itself, even without anything else, has a somewhat harmful cardiovascular effect. It increases heart rate, it increases blood pressure. It’s not good for the heart to have nicotine in the system,” explains Dr. Labos.
Is vaping better than smoking cigarettes? “Yes, it was probably less bad. But less bad doesn’t mean good for your health,” the expert points out.
Like other health professionals, Dr. Labos is concerned about the popularity of vaping among young people. There’s a distinction with other ways to quit smoking. You don’t get addicted to nicotine gum, he illustrates, whereas with vaping, there’s a real risk of addiction. “A new generation is becoming ‘addicted’ to nicotine in the form of vaping. We don’t know what the consequences of that are and [if] it’s something we should be concerned about,” he says.
The clinical practice guideline developed by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care is the first to focus on smoking cessation in adults. It complements the recommendations published in 2017 by the same expert group for school-aged children and youth.
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–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
Health coverage by The Canadian Press is supported by a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for this journalistic content.
