A study by researchers from Mass General Brigham revealed that teens and young adults who took varenicline are more than three times as likely to successfully quit vaping compared to those who received only behavioural counselling. The study results have been published in JAMA.
A. Eden Evins, lead author and director of the Centre for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), said, “Vaping is extremely popular among kids, and we know that this early nicotine exposure can make drugs like cocaine more addictive down the line, yet ours is the first treatment study to look at this vulnerable population.
“We wanted to help teens and young adults quit, and we found that prescribing varenicline is the best way to do that.”
According to University College London (UCL), 14 per cent of 18-to-24-year-olds in England who never regularly smoked now vape. Vapes have become a popular alternative to cigarettes with the added challenge of being easy to conceal and easy to use in public places. However, they contain many of the same health threats as cigarettes, such as nicotine addiction, carcinogen and heavy metal exposure, and pulmonary inflammation.
The study
The Mass General Brigham team recruited 261 participants aged 16-to-25 into a randomised clinical trial. Participants were sorted into three treatment groups. The first was varenicline, weekly behavioural counselling, and access to a free text support service called ‘This is Quitting’. The second was placebo pills, weekly behavioural counselling, and the text service. The third was the text service alone. Each group was treated for 12 weeks, then checked monthly for another 12 weeks post-treatment.
Each week, participants reported whether they had successfully quit vaping, and their responses were verified with cotinine saliva tests. At the end of 12 weeks of treatment and at the three-month follow-up, the varenicline group had the highest quitting success rate. At 12 weeks, 51 per cent of varenicline users had stopped vaping, compared to 14 per cent of placebo users and six per cent of text-only users. At 24 weeks, 28 per cent of varenicline users had stopped vaping, compared to seven per cent of placebo users and four per cent of text-only users.
According to the researchers, the findings demonstrate the importance of medication to help young people who are addicted to nicotine quit vaping. This is demonstrated by the varenicline group, who were three times more successful at quitting vaping than their placebo counterparts, despite both engaging in behavioural therapy.
However, the researchers have said further research is needed to explore the potential impact of other therapeutic approaches, as well as to look at even younger people who use nicotine vapes.
Randi Schuster, founding director of the Centre for School Behavioural Health at MGH, commented, “Not only was varenicline effective in this age group—it was safe. Crucially, we didn’t see any participants that quit vaping turn to cigarettes.
“Our findings illustrate the effectiveness and safety of this therapy to address the urgent public health concern of adolescents addicted to nicotine because of vapes.”