Cochrane reviews are considered the gold standard in evidence and are used by clinicians and policymakers worldwide. They synthesise all the available studies on a particular topic and provide an assessment of the certainty of the evidence.
The first Cochrane review about interventions for vaping cessation was published in January this year. The review included nine studies, with a total of 5209 participants who wanted to stop using vapes containing nicotine. The analysis compared the interventions to no/minimal support and concluded that there is low‐certainty evidence that text message‐based interventions may help young people (13-24 years) stop vaping, and low‐certainty evidence that varenicline may help people stop vaping. This means that more evidence is needed before we can confidently say that these interventions will help people to stop vaping.
This review identified twenty studies investigating a range of different interventions for vaping cessation that were still ongoing. It is imperative that the results of these studies, and any new ones in this area, are considered and added to the evidence base. This review is now a living systematic review which means that the scientific team will run monthly searches and update the review if new evidence emerges that will strengthen or change the conclusions about effective interventions for vaping cessation.
Acknowledging that there is currently a lack of evidence available about the best way to support someone to stop vaping, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) guidelines suggest that strategies shown to be effective for smoking cessation (a combination of behavioural support and pharmacotherapy where clinically appropriate) may be considered to support vaping cessation.