Panel Offers First Guidelines For Using E-Cigarettes To Help Smokers Quit

• August 18, 2026
• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

A panel of experts has issued the first clinical guidelines for using e-cigarettes to help adults quit smoking.

E-cigarettes should be offered alongside other smoking cessation strategies like nicotine replacement therapies or medications like varenicline and bupropion, a panel from the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco said. Its recommendations were published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The paper noted that e-cigarettes are not harm-free, but argued that vaping is less harmful than smoking and more effective than traditional nicotine replacement therapies.

“This work is about correcting misperceptions that act as barriers to evidence-based care for smokers and expanding the tools clinicians can use to support smoking cessation among their patients,” lead researcher Eleanor Leavens said in a news release. She is an assistant professor of population health at the University of Kansas. 

“There is no single approach that will help all smokers quit, but by providing patients with a menu of options and engaging in a risk-benefit conversation, they have a better chance of quitting for good and improving their overall health,” Leavens said.

Switching from smoking to vaping reduces exposure to harmful chemicals and carcinogens, in some cases up to 90%, the team wrote in its evidence review.

And while e-cigarettes are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for smoking cessation, there is high-certainty evidence that the devices are associated with higher quit rates than nicotine patches, gum or nasal sprays, researchers wrote.

“Unlike NRT (nicotine replacement therapy), e-cigarettes typically deliver nicotine rapidly and similarly to cigarettes,” the panel wrote in its paper. “Although such delivery poses a risk of greater dependence and long-term use relative to NRT, it may also contribute to e-cigarettes’ being more satisfying and a more effective substitute for cigarettes relative to NRT and contribute to a reduced risk of relapse.”

Doctors who are advising smokers should engage in shared decision-making about the quit strategy that would work best for them, the panel said.

If a patient decides that they want to use e-cigarettes to help quit, the guidelines recommend that doctors:

• Guide patients toward vape products that have been authorized by the FDA to have more benefits than risk.

• Tell them to use an e-cigarette any time they would typically smoke.

• Completely substitute e-cigarettes for smoking as quickly as possible.

• Seek behavioral counseling as well to improve their odds of successfully quitting.

“Behavioral support should focus on complete cessation of cigarettes and should include setting a quit date for cigarette use,” researchers wrote.

After a person has successfully quit cigarettes, doctors can consider recommending they cut back on their nicotine exposure from vaping, the guidelines said.

“The most important goal to keep in mind is maintaining complete abstinence from cigarettes,” the team wrote.

The guidelines were produced by the Harm Reduction Workgroup for the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, an international non-profit organization that does not accept funding from the tobacco industry.

“Cigarette smoking causes about 30% of all cancer deaths in the United States and most people want to quit but struggle to do so,” Leavens said. “Adding clear guidance on e‑cigarettes gives clinicians a practical tool that can help people move away from combustible tobacco and toward better health.”

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about e-cigarettes.

SOURCES: University of Kansas, news release, Aug. 12, 2026; Journal of the American Medical Association, July 30, 2026

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