E-cigarettes may have helped many quit smoking in England: study

E-cigarettes may have helped about 18,000 people in England give up smoking in 2015, according to a study released Wednesday by the University College London (UCL).

Researchers at the UCL Health Behaviour Research Centre analyzed data from the Smoking Toolkit study, and data on the percentage of smokers who set a quit date with Stop Smoking Services.

As more people used e-cigarettes, more people successfully quit smoking last year in England, according to the study. But the authors still said there was no evidence e-cigarettes prompted more people to try and quit.

Around 2.8 million people in Britain use e-cigarettes. Although they are the most popular smoking cessation aid in Britain, the most effective way to quit smoking remains through prescription medication and professional support, according to the study.

"England is sometimes singled out as being too positive in its attitude to e-cigarettes. These data suggest that our relatively liberal regulation of e-cigarettes is probably justified," said Professor Robert West from UCL.