Vaping may not help people quit after all

One of the biggest arguments in favor of vaping is that it can help people break free from their addiction to smoking. But a new study published this week in PLoS One seems to offer a strong refutation to this line of thinking. He suggests that people who use both tobacco and e-cigarettes are less likely to quit than those who stick to tobacco.

Researchers studied data from GfK's KnowledgePanel, a continuous service offering small rewards to users. for each survey conducted. They examined data from more than 1,200 smokers who were interviewed in August and September 2015, and then continued to track their smoking status. Of the 1,000 people who remained active members of KnowledgePanel a year later, about 850 responded to a follow-up survey

About 30 percent of people at the start of the survey said they smoked and smoked. But a year later, 90% said they were still smoking. However, those who only smoked were twice as likely to report quitting. The lower chances of success among users of electronic cigarettes, or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), remained true even though people said that they turned to vaping as a way to get rid of them. ;stop smoking. On average, dual users still smoked the same amount of cigarettes a day as non-vapers a year later.

"Any smoker would tell you that it's extremely difficult to quit," Scott Weaver, an epidemiologist at the Georgia State University School of Public Health told Gizmodo by email. "But, that nicotine addiction is hard to overcome does not easily explain why smokers who also used electronic cigarettes were less likely to quit than smokers who did not use cigarettes even though, double users, were more likely to try to quit smoking. "

Some previous studies have suggested that switching to vaping may help reduce smoking. According to Weaver, however, these studies could be dated or otherwise unrepresentative of how people's habits are actually altered by these devices.

"In the real world, the electronic cigarette product landscape is very diverse, and communications about their health effects and use to quit smoking are not uniform." he declares. "Most of these products do not match the nicotine release profile of the cigarette.Many smokers who try electronic cigarettes find them unable to suppress their nicotine cravings and abandon them (returning to exclusive smoking) or continue smoking and to vape. "

Since duplicate users were less likely to leave the study, Weaver even suggests that there is something unique about dual-use that prevents abandonment attempts, such as higher doses of nicotine. "It could also be that smokers could use the electronic cigarette to supplement their nicotine absorption and relieve withdrawal symptoms in situations where they can not smoke, which could compromise the impact of smoke-free restrictions." "Some may also continue to smoke and vape under the misconception that reducing cigarettes is enough, while the uncertainty and confusion over the health risks of electronic cigarettes can lead to the" harmlessness "of cigarettes. ambivalence to switch completely to e-cigarettes. "

Weaver does not rule out the possibility that e-cigarettes may still be a weaning aid, with changes in their design as well as in the way they are marketed and regulated. But even these changes might be too slow and inefficient on their own. It highlights the recent efforts of the Food and Drug Administration to reduce the nicotine content of traditional cigarettes as an example of a more meaningful and immediate solution.

"We can work on it [changes] while we continue to promote evidence-based policies, education campaigns and cessation approaches that we know are effective," he said.

Weaver and his team plan to continue to study perceptions of smoking and e-cigarettes influence smoker's decisions and electronic cigarette use patterns, as well as how smokers respond to new types e-cigarettes and new FDA regulations for tobacco and electronic cigarettes.

[PLoS One]