Vaping can help stop smoking but also increase the risk of relapse

(Reuters Health) – Adults who smoke cigarettes have an easier time reducing or stopping altogether if they start to run out of steam, but a new French study also suggests that ex-smokers may be more likely to relapse.

"In adults, the use of the electronic cigarette by non-smokers is extremely rare.Most users are smokers who want to quit smoking or reduce their smoking or former smokers who want to avoid a relapse. ", said Ramchandar Gomajee, lead author of the study and researcher. at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Gomajee and his colleagues followed 5,400 smokers for an average of 23 months, including 822 who also reported daily use of electronic cigarettes. Vapers smoked more traditional cigarettes a day, at 11.2 versus 9.8 on average.

However, at the end of the follow-up, the vapers further reduced their daily cigarette consumption – eliminating 4.4 per day, compared to 2.7 for non-vapers. And the vapors were also 67% more likely to quit smoking.

In addition, researchers followed 2,025 ex-smokers for an average of 22 months, of whom 176 reported using regular e-cigarettes. Participants were 70% more likely to start smoking traditional cigarettes during the study than ex-smokers who had quit smoking without being vapoted.

"Former smokers who use e-cigarettes are still addicted to nicotine," Gomajee said via e-mail. "In all situations where they are suffering from withdrawal symptoms but can not use their electronic cigarette, for example for lack of e-liquid or because of technical problems related to the electronic cigarette, they are likely to smoke again . "

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how spraying could affect the smoking habits of traditional cigarette users. The study also did not aim to test the safety or efficacy of electronic cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid.

Another limitation is that researchers lacked data on why people were using e-cigarettes, making it impossible to determine whether quitting or reducing daily cigarette consumption was a goal of people who were stuffing themselves, noted researchers in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The big American tobacco companies are all developing electronic cigarettes. Battery-powered gadgets feature an incandescent tip and a heating element that turns liquid nicotine and aromas into a cloud of steam that users inhale.

When e-cigarettes contain nicotine, they can be addictive, such as traditional cigarettes. Even without nicotine, previous research suggests that the flavors and other ingredients of e-liquids used for vaporization could be related to serious respiratory problems.

This study does not answer an important question about e-cigarettes, whether they are safe or at least safer than traditional cigarettes.

"Electronic cigarettes do not have the same level of known carcinogens as cigarettes, so they are safer in this regard," said Thomas Wills, a researcher at the University's Cancer Research Center. from Hawaii to Honolulu.

"However, in the past three years, other side effects have been reported," Wills said via e-mail. "There are now 15 studies showing a link between the use of electronic cigarettes and respiratory diseases (asthma and COPD) both in adolescence and in adulthood … it so it is hard to seriously argue that electronic cigarettes are safe for health. "

Smokers who want to quit should try other ways to quit smoking, such as nicotine replacement patches or Chantix, a prescription smoking cessation drug, before attempting to quit smoking with the drug. help from electronic cigarettes, advised Wills.

Although some people manage to quit in the long term with the help of electronic cigarettes, it is a small fraction of smokers, said Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Research and Development. teaching for tobacco control at the University of California at San Francisco.

"Electronic cigarettes should not be recommended for quitting," said Glantz, who did not participate in the study, by e-mail. "Dual use is more dangerous than smoking alone, which is an important and underestimated effect."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2YT0pHH JAMA Internal Medicine, Online July 15, 2019.