When it comes to medical research, there is no other hospital in the United States more respected than Mayo Clinic. When the doctors at Mayo release new information, the world listens because they know this hospital is trustworthy and on the cutting edge of medical research. Recently, the Mayo Clinic released results from their latest experiment in smoking cessation. After noting that smokers face far higher risks of complications following surgery, researchers decided to offer patients “electronic nicotine delivery devices” both before and after their surgeries. The goal was to see if the ecigs could help patients successfully reduce tobacco consumption or eliminate cigarette use altogether.
Smokers who were facing upcoming elective surgeries were provided with the “electronic nicotine delivery” devices and encouraged to use them anytime they got a craving for a cigarette. Researchers kept records of their tobacco consumption and behavioral changes while using the ecigs and followed up 30-days later to see if there had been any significant change.
At the time of follow up, the Mayo Clinic team found that 17 percent had already completely quit smoking. Another 51 percent said they intended to continue using the devices in the future. Most remarkably, cigarette consumption was drastically reduced after patients had access to ecigarettes. “Average cigarette consumption decreased from 15.6 per person to 7.6 over the study period,” the study concluded. Ultimately, researchers said that ecig “use is feasible and well-accepted in surgical patients.”
This is the first time we’ve seen a prestigious hospital praise ecigarettes for their potential to help smokers. Now that Mayo Clinic took the leap, it’s safe to say that other doctors might feel more confident to recommend ecigarettes to their patients, especially those facing surgery. The medical community is well aware that other nicotine replacement therapies just aren’t that effective, but all signs show that ecigs can work and actually make a remarkable difference in a relatively short period of time.
Do you think other doctors will be more accepting of ecigarettes since the Mayo Clinic had such good results? Could this change the public perception of ecigs in the United States?
http://www.cocktailnerd.com/mayo-clinic-reveals-results-of-a-ground-breaking-new-ecig-experiment/
