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April 15 (UPI) -- Many physicians are reluctant to recommend e-cigarettes for people seeking to quit smoking or those being treated for tobacco-caused diseases, a survey published Friday found. Of the physicians surveyed, only 22% indicated they recommend e-cigarettes to patients, with 10% saying they had done so within the 30-day period before responding to the questionnaire, the data, published Friday by JAMA Network Open, showed.
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Physicians were three times more likely to recommend e-cigarettes for heavy smokers who had failed previous quit attempts. Medications such as nicotine gum or lozenges were generally reserved for light smokers, the researchers said.
Nearly 70% of physicians surveyed reported that patients have asked them about e-cigarettes, and one-third said they were asked about them in the past 30 days, they said.
"These findings show it is critical to address physicians' misperceptions and educate them on e-cigarettes' efficacy," study co-author Cristine Delnevo said in a press release.
This includes "correcting their misperceptions that all tobacco products are equally harmful, as opposed to the fact that combusted tobacco is by far the most dangerous," said Delnevo, who is director of the Rutgers Center for Tobacco Studies in Piscataway, N.J.
However, not everyone agrees that e-cigarettes are an effective -- or safe -- smoking cessation option, research suggests.
While some studies have found switching to e-cigarettes, or vaping devices, which use a heated liquid containing nicotine, does help smokers wean themselves off tobacco, others have found that the most effective approach is just quitting.
Although vaping devices, which still contain nicotine and tobacco, expose users to fewer potentially toxic chemicals than traditional cigarettes, they still can lead to health problems, including damage to teeth and gums, research indicates.
In previous studies, e-cigarettes also have been linked with an increased risk for infections, as well as heart and lung damage.
For this study, Delnevo and her colleagues surveyed 2,058 physicians in the United States in 2018 and again in 2019 about their communication with patients about e-cigarettes.
The researchers asked respondents how they would advise two different patients who wanted to quit smoking, they said.
In example scenarios, responding physicians were asked how they would a young woman who is a lighter smoker and had not yet tried to quit and an older man who smoked heavily and had tried to quit many times using different methods, the researchers said.
Lung and heart specialists, as well as all physicians who reported using the U.S. Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guidelines for treating tobacco use and dependence, were more likely to recommend e-cigarettes to patients, the data showed.
Physicians who had smoked themselves, as well as those who had patients ask about e-cigarettes, also were more likely to recommend them than others, the researchers said.
More than 60% of the doctors surveyed "incorrectly believed that all tobacco products are equally harmful," they said.
"As the evidence grows showing e-cigarettes as potentially effective for smoking cessation, they may play a pivotal role in reducing use of cigarettes and subsequently tobacco-caused disease," study co-author Michael Steinberg said in a press release.
"It's important to understand physicians' perspectives on e-cigarettes as a means for harm reduction," said Steinberg, who is the medical director of the Rutgers Tobacco Dependence Program.
