During this year event, CoEHAR researchers presented the latest results of a small study conducted across a very vulnerable, and often forgotten, population: older adults who are are trying to stop smoking.
The timely intervention of the experts of the University of Catania and CoEHAR, prof. Riccardo Polosa and prof. Giovanni Li Volti, was essential to effectively deter the Italian Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, from supporting an ineffective and unpopular public health line.
Rosalia Emma holds a degree in Health Biology at the University of Catania, a PhD in Translational Biomedicine and has signed dozens of scientific publications on the topic of harm reduction. Prof. Emma is currently a member of the scientific team of the Replica 2.0 project, coordinated by CoEHAR.
The high number of cigarettes smoked every day by patients with severe mental disorders does not only harm individual smokers but also their parents and the people around them. The habit of smoking is perceived as harmful and also causes discomfort to those close to patients with schizophrenia who can even smoke 60 cigarettes a day.
From Monday 27th February to Thursday 2nd March, CoEHAR will host the kick-off meeting of the REPLICA 2.0 project. A team of international researchers from different countries will attend the event coordinated by CoEHAR to launch the new era of Replica.
The ground-breaking review article "Health impact of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Current and emerging evidence" published in Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine discusses existing and future options for COPD smokers who have difficulty quitting smoking. It also systematically reviews the current literature about e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. The article is authored by CoEHAR researchers of the University of Catania together with British respiratory physicians at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals in London.
The research covered 25 studies comprising 1,810 participants who smoked. The authors found that nearly two thirds of the tests analyzed showed e-cigarettes do not bring any additional harm to a smoker’s health, specifically in relation to heart rate, blood pressure and cardiovascular test. In fact, researchers evaluated evidence from two clinical studies that showed that the use of e-cigarettes could lead to a potential benefit. For example, participants with hypertension experienced a clinically significant reduction in systolic blood pressure after one year of electronic nicotine delivery systems use.
A record that is associated with another incredible scientific result of the CoEHAR team which closes 2022 with a record: the group of scientists affiliated with the research center in Catania has managed to achieve, in just 4 years, 128 scientific publications in prestigious journals dedicated to Harm Reduction.
Although the numbers of harm reduction supporters are growing, there are still too many smokers attracted to cigarettes: with over 1.1 billion smokers worldwide and more than 8 million smoke-related deaths each year, the smoking emergency is still a long way off from being in check.
In their Commentary “A tale of flawed e-cigarette research undetected by defective peer review process” published in Internal and Emergency Medicine, top harm reduction researchers Riccardo Polosa, Founder of the CoEHAR, and Konstantinos Farsalinos, from University of West Attica, denounce the danger of an escalation in the promotion and dissemination of an anti-vaping narrative supported by evidence of the lowest quality.
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