Use of e-cigarettes may help between 50,000 and 70,000 smokers in England quit every year, new research has shown.

Researchers from University College London (UCL) assessed the correlation between the use of e-cigarettes and success rate of quitting smoking.

The study, published in scientific journal Addiction, used data from the Smoking Toolkit, a series of monthly surveys of households in England aged 16 and above that date back to 2006.

According to the study, funded by Cancer Research UK, the success rate of smokers quitting tobacco cigarettes increased from 2011 as the number of smokers using e-cigarettes increased.

The number of smokers using e-cigarettes to quit levelled out around four years ago, as did the success rate of quitting.