The findings, presented at the European Respiratory Society and reported by James Gallager at the BBC here, showed similar numbers completely quitting with e-cigarettes as patches, but more had cut down using e-cigarettes by a long way.
UPDATE: BBC have since reported further, along with the UK government, that tobacco products are at least 95% safer than smoking and they are helping thousands quit. You can find the new article regarding new BBC vape reports here.
The devices, which are rapidly growing in popularity, produce a vapour containing nicotine. Delivering the same feel and hit as a cigarette, which is the reason why more people are successfully cutting down smoking using e-cigarettes rather than patches.
Being a new product real, long term data cannot be obtained yet but current data shows no real issues. A research team at Auckland University, New Zealand, completedclinical trials comparing the devices with nicotine patches in 657 people. The findings show 7.3% using e-cigarettes had quit after six months compared with 5.8% using patches. After six months, 57% of e-cigarette owners had halved the amount of cigarettes smoked everyday, compared with only 41% with people using patches.