Many individuals flip to e-cigarettes as a method to wean off smoking. New analysis from scientists at UC San Diego means that this strategy doesn’t work.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways
- A examine from UC San Diego discovered that e-cigarette use is related to decrease smoking cessation charges, contradicting the assumption that vaping helps people who smoke give up.
- Researchers analyzed knowledge from over 6,000 US people who smoke and located that smoking cessation was 4.1% decrease amongst day by day vapers and 5.3% decrease amongst non-daily vapers in comparison with non-vapers.
- The findings spotlight the necessity for evidence-based public well being insurance policies, as vaping might maintain nicotine habit moderately than function an efficient smoking cessation device.
Vaping doesn’t improve smoking cessation and is definitely related to decreased tobacco abstinence, in keeping with analysis printed March 5 in JAMA. The information refute the notion that e-cigarettes can assist folks give up, a standard misperception amongst tobacco customers and e-cigarette proponents, in keeping with scientists on the Herbert Wertheim Faculty of Public Well being and Human Longevity Science and Moores Most cancers Middle at College of California San Diego.
“Most people who smoke assume vaping will provide help to give up smoking,” mentioned examine co-author John P. Pierce, PhD, Distinguished Professor within the Herbert Wertheim Faculty of Public Well being. “Nonetheless, this perception just isn’t supported by science so far. Whereas some researchers have instructed that people who smoke who swap to day by day vaping will likely be extra profitable in quitting smoking, We studied quitting success amongst each day by day and non-daily vapers and got here up with a fairly definitive reply.”
The brand new examine analyzed knowledge from over 6,000 US people who smoke from the Inhabitants Evaluation of Tobacco and Well being Research, a nationally consultant pattern of US cigarette people who smoke. There have been 943 people who smoke who additionally vaped and by matching and evaluating these to comparable people who smoke who didn’t vape, they discovered:
- Smoking cessation was truly 4.1% decrease amongst people who smoke who vaped day by day.
- Equally, smoking cessation was 5.3% decrease amongst people who smoke who vaped, however not day by day, in comparison with matched people who smoke who didn’t vape.
In keeping with the CDC, virtually 20% of individuals within the U.S. use tobacco merchandise. Whereas nearly all of these individuals are cigarette people who smoke, some folks have switched from smoking to vaping lately, partially as a result of vaping is usually perceived as much less dangerous. This notion contributes to the assumption amongst many people who smoke that vaping is an efficient strategy to “taper off” of cigarettes.
Contemplating the potential risks of vaping, the researchers observe that whereas e-cigarettes don’t have the identical well being penalties as smoking, they aren’t innocent.
The hostile well being results of cigarette smoking turn out to be apparent after folks have smoked for 20 years,” added Pierce, a former director for inhabitants sciences at Moores Most cancers Middle. “Whereas vapes typically don’t include the identical dangerous chemical substances as cigarette smoke, they produce other dangers, and we simply don’t but know what the well being penalties of vaping over 20 to 30 years will likely be.”
One distinctive power of the examine is that the researchers have been in a position to management for a variety of different variables which might be well-known to be related to quitting, together with whether or not they have been non-daily cigarette people who smoke, curiosity in quitting (together with a latest give up try), the presence of a smoke-free residence, and socioeconomic elements.
“For instance, if a smoker is already very fascinated with quitting, has a smoke-free residence, and doesn’t smoke day by day, they’re much extra prone to efficiently give up no matter whether or not they vape or not,” mentioned senior writer Karen Messer, Ph.D., professor of biostatistics within the Herbert Wertheim Faculty of Public Well being. “We matched every smoker/vaper on such traits. It’s a must to make very certain you’re evaluating like with like, and that’s why this evaluation is so definitive.”
In keeping with the researchers, failing to adequately account for these confounding elements in earlier research is a part of why misconceptions about e-cigarettes have persevered so lengthy.
“As the general public well being group continues to grapple with the complexities of tobacco management, it’s important that we depend on rigorous scientific proof to tell our insurance policies and interventions,” added Messer, who can be director of the Biostatistics Shared Useful resource at Moores Most cancers Middle. “Our analysis reveals that deceptive associations between vaping and smoking cessation routinely happen except confounding traits are rigorously accounted for.”
Along with offering definitive proof a few contentious query in tobacco analysis, the examine’s outcomes have vital implications for public well being coverage and apply surrounding e-cigarettes, notably how they’re marketed to adolescents, for whom e-cigarettes are sometimes a gateway to nicotine dependence.
“There’s nonetheless lots we don’t know concerning the affect of vaping on folks,” mentioned Natalie Quach, a third-year biostatistics Ph.D. pupil on the Herbert Wertheim Faculty of Public Well being and the examine’s first writer. “However what we do know is that the concept that vaping helps folks give up isn’t truly true. It’s extra probably that it retains them hooked on nicotine.”
