CEASEFIRE: first study in the world to assess the efficacy and safety of heated tobacco products and e-cig as a valid smoking cessation tool

“We observed an improvement in exercise tolerance in participants compared to the initial levels: many patients from the first month declared that they have more breath and to feel less fatigue in small but important daily activities such as climbing stairs or doing household” - added prof. Pasquale Caponnetto, professor of clinical psychology at DISFOR of the University of Catania and CoEHAR member.

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Schizophrenia spectrum disorders patients: smoking also harms friends and relatives

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.

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State-of-the-art review article concludes that e-cigarettes may offer health benefits to COPD patients

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.

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Polosa inaugurates 2023 with 2 new records

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.

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Anti-vaping narrative driven by low quality science goes undetected by editorial quality checks

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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Motore Sanità: risk reduction as a public health strategy 

Riccardo Polosa: "In Italy, even today, we don't have a health policy that takes care of these people. Risk reduction represents the solution, an extraordinary opportunity for change and acceleration in terms of individual and public health. I consider it serious to insist on hiding from citizens the real opportunities offered by potentially low-risk instruments, even pointing them out as dangerous on a par with conventional cigarettes. 

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