New research: E-cigarettes don’t help smokers quit cigarettes

How far do these prevent smokers, once they have switched from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, from going back to cigarettes?

Individuals who switched to any other form of tobacco use, including e-cigarettes, were found more likely to relapse compared to former smokers who had quit all tobacco, by a total of 8.5 percentage points. (Representational image)

E-cigarettes have often been suggested as a potential means to help smokers quit. These are battery-operated devices that heat a liquid made of nicotine, flavourings and other chemicals to make an aerosol that users inhale into their lungs. But how far do these prevent smokers, once they have switched from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, from going back to cigarettes?

An analysis by the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, has found that e-cigarette use — even on a daily basis — did not help smokers successfully stay off cigarettes.

Using data from the US Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) longitudinal study, researchers identified 13,604 smokers between 2013 and 2015 who were followed over two sequential annual surveys to explore changes in use of 12 tobacco products.

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At the first annual follow up, 9.4% of these established smokers had quit. Among them, 62.9% remained tobacco-free, while 37.1% had switched to another form of tobacco use, including 22.8% who used e-cigarettes, with 17.6% of switchers using e-cigarettes daily.

At the second annual follow-up, individuals who switched to any other form of tobacco use, including e-cigarettes, were found more likely to relapse compared to former smokers who had quit all tobacco, by a total of 8.5 percentage points.

Among recent former smokers who abstained from all tobacco products, 50% were 12 or more months off cigarettes at the second follow-up and were considered to have successfully quit smoking; this compared to 41.5% of recent former smokers who switched to any other form of tobacco use, including e-cigarettes.

Source: UC San Diego

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