Smoking Cessation Rates Linked to Rise in E-Cigarette Use
A significant increase in the rates of e-cigarette use among adults is associated with a significant increase in smoking cessation rates, according to the results of a recent study.
The use of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid is controversial, due to uncertainty about the devices’ overall benefits and harms to cessation efforts. In order to examine whether increases in the use of e-cigarettes from 2010 to 2014 were associated with change in overall smoking cessation at the population level, researchers conducted a study using data from 5 US Current Population Survey-Tobacco Use Supplement (CPS-TUS) surveys from 2001-2002, 2003, 2006-2007, 2010-2011, and 2014-2015.
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1 in 4 Youths Exposed to Secondhand Aerosol from E-Cigarettes
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Of the 161,054 respondents to the 2014-2015 survey, 22,548 were current cigarette smokers and 2136 had recently quit. Overall, 28.2% of current smokers and 49.3% of recent quitters had tried e-cigarettes, and 11.5% and 19% used them currently, respectively.
Individuals who used e-cigarettes were more likely to attempt smoking cessation than those who did not use e-cigarettes (65.1% vs 40.1%), and were more likely to succeed in quitting (8.2% vs 4.8%).
Notably, the overall cessation rate in 2014-2015 was significantly higher than that of 2010-2011 (5.6% vs 4.5%).
“The substantial increase in e-cigarette use among US adult smokers was associated with a statistically significant increase in the smoking cessation rate at the population level. These findings need to be weighed carefully in regulatory policy making regarding e-cigarettes and in planning tobacco control interventions,” the researchers concluded.
—Michael Potts
Reference:
Zhu S, Zhuang Y, Wong S, et al. E-cigarette use and associated changes in population smoking cessation: evidence from US current population surveys [published online July 26, 2017]. BMJ. doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j3262.