Based on findings in perhaps the first study of its kind, researchers found electronic cigarettes to be just as effective in helping smokers quit as nicotine patches are, HealthDay News reported.

E-cigarettes even edged out the patch in reducing smokers' daily use among those who did not quit. There are no major studies to compare the results to, but the findings showed that e-cigarettes were slightly more effective among the participants who quit smoking after the study concluded.

657 smokers took part in the study and researchers gave them either fake e-cigarettes (with no nicotine), nicotine patches or e-cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered devices that give the user nicotine, flavorings and other chemicals in vapor form.

At the end of 13 weeks, six percent of the participants quit smoking and of those who did so, 7.3 percent had used e-cigarettes, 5.8 percent used nicotine patches and 4.1 used fake e-cigarettes.

Lead researcher Chris Bullen, director of the National Institute for Health Innovation at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, said the statistical difference is not enough to be considered significant.

"While our results don't show any clear-cut differences between e-cigarettes and patches in terms of quit success after six months, it certainly seems that e-cigarettes were more effective in helping smokers who didn't quit to cut down," Bullen said in a news release from the Lancet, the journal that published the study online Saturday.

Of the vast majority who did not quit smoking, 57 percent of those who used e-cigarettes reported their daily habits had decreased, compared to 41 percent of nicotine patches users. 90 percent of the e-cigarette and their fake version's users said they would recommend them to family members. 56 percent of the nicotine patch users said they would do the same.

"It's also interesting that the people who took part in our study seemed to be much more enthusiastic about e-cigarettes than patches, as evidenced by the far greater proportion of people in both of the e-cigarette groups who said they'd recommend them to family or friends, compared to patches," Bullen said.

Peter Hajek, a professor and director of the tobacco dependence research unit in the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine at Queen Mary University of London, wrote in a commentary piece that the research is "pioneering."

He said e-cigarettes have the ability to help smokers quit and reduce their use otherwise, which also helps cut the cost of healthcare.

"There is still so much that is unknown about the effectiveness and long-term effects of e-cigarettes," Bullen said. "Given the increasing popularity of these devices in many countries, and the accompanying regulatory uncertainty and inconsistency, larger, longer-term trials are urgently needed to establish whether these devices might be able to fulfill their potential as effective and popular smoking cessation aids."