Cochrane reviews are the gold standard for determining if a treatment is effective in randomised controlled trials (RCTs). The recent Cochrane review on e-cigarettes found high-certainty evidence that vaping helps people quit smoking better than traditional nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs).

In his recent interview with Australian Doctor (‘Why Cochrane got it badly wrong: Aussie expert unpicks ‘pro-vaping’ review‘), Professor Simon Chapman dismissed the Cochrane review for not reflecting real-world behaviour.

This misunderstands the role of RCTs, which is to find if a treatment works in motivated smokers in a controlled environment.

Abundant evidence now also exists showing that vaping works in the real-world setting, from UK Stop Smoking Services, observational studies, population studies and declines in national smoking rates.