A large number of U.S. high school students vape e-cigarettes. Many of these vaping teens want to quit. A new study suggests that a drug used to stop smoking can help.
Most vape pens contain nicotine, a highly addictive drug.
The new study followed 88 teens and young adults for three months. All took the drug varenicline. They also received text messages that offered counseling and support. By the last month of treatment, nearly half had been able to stop vaping.
Another 87 young people during that time got support but took a placebo drug. Only 14 percent of them had quit vaping by the last month. This suggests varenicline played a key role in helping the first group give up their use of e-cigarettes.
The work appears in the June 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The team also checked in with study participants monthly for three months after their treatment ended. In the group that had gotten varenicline, 28 percent continued to not vape. Only 7 percent of kids who took the placebo were vape-free at the end of that time.
To have lasted a half year, “the 28 percent quit rate is pretty good,” says Lindy McGee. Keep in mind, she notes, nicotine is “one of the most addictive substances we have.”
McGee works at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Texas Children’s Hospital. A pediatrician, she had no role in the new study.
The struggle to stop vaping
Adolescence is a crucial time for brain development. It’s when links between some neurons strengthen and others weaken. Those altered links will become the basis of our ability to think, reason, remember and control emotions as adults. Nicotine can disrupt those vital changes. And teens are especially vulnerable to becoming addicted to such a drug.
Last year, a survey found that a little more than one in every 12 U.S. high school students had vaped in the past 30 days. That amounted to about 1.2 million teens. Almost a third of these said they vaped daily.
But data also show that many teens want to give up vaping. A 2020 survey found that 64 percent of high school vapers intended to quit. And two in every three teen vapers had tried to quit in the past year.
A challenge in helping under-18 U.S. vapers give up e-cigarettes is how state laws can differ, McGee says. Some states let doctors prescribe anti-nicotine drugs to teens without their parents’ consent. Others don’t. McGee encourages her patients to talk to their parents about quitting, unless it feels unsafe to do so.
The school day can also pose issues for teens trying to kick nicotine. The main medicine option for teens right now is what’s known as nicotine-replacement therapy. That involves using lozenges or gum to soothe cravings. But using those items during the day may require the school nurse to be involved, McGee says.
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How varenicline may help
Varenicline — sold under the brand name Chantix — has helped adults stop smoking. A doctor must prescribe this medicine, which binds to nicotine receptors in the brain. After taking it, exposure to nicotine doesn’t feel as good. The drug also soothes the unpleasant symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.
In a study with a small group of adults, this drug appeared to help people quit vaping, too.
The new study recruited younger volunteers — people 16 to 25 years old. They were not regular smokers. All, however, had vaped five or more days each week for the past three months. As had been seen in smokers, vapers who received varenicline now had less severe nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms.
McGee helps patients work out plans to quit vaping. Those plans can include counseling. They also can include support through text messages and medication. She screens patients, too, for anxiety and depression. If someone is struggling with those conditions, she makes a plan to help with that, as well.
Varenicline is now another medicine that McGee could suggest for her 16- and 17-year-old patients and their parents. As a twice-a-day pill, it can be taken outside of school hours, she notes. “I’m glad to know that there is something else potentially in my toolbox.”
