Titled, “Incidence of Cigarette Smoking Relapse Among Individuals Who Switched to e-Cigarettes or Other Tobacco Products,” the study collected data from 13,604 adults who had participated in the US Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) survey. They used 4 annual waves from the Path study to identify 2 cohorts of people who had recently quit smoking cigarettes and completed 2 follow-up surveys.
The data indicted that former smokers who had switched to vaping at the time of the first follow-up were more likely to have relapsed by the second follow-up. The research team also found that the more dependent on cigarettes a former smoker had been, the more likely they were to use some substitute form of tobacco. “Those in the lowest tertile of dependence were less likely to use an e-cigarette than those in the highest tertile.”
“This longitudinal follow-up cohort study of a large representative sample of US recent former smokers showed that switching to e-cigarettes (even on a daily basis) was not associated with helping smokers remain abstinent from cigarettes,” they went on to conclude.
Other studies suggested otherwise
In contrast, countless other studies have indicated quite the opposite. The study titled, “The effectiveness of using e‐cigarettes for quitting smoking compared to other cessation methods among adults in the United Kingdom,” is one such example of an independent peer reviewed study.
The researchers analysed data from 1155 respondents aged between 18 and 81, from a longitudinal online survey collected between 2012 and 2017. “Compared with using no help, the odds of abstinence were increased by daily use of disposable/cartridge e-cigarettes (ECs) and daily use of refill/modular. Odds were reduced by non‐daily use of disposable/cartridge, and by use of disposable/cartridge ECs to quit and no longer using at follow‐up. Secondary Results were similar to the primary outcome; however, odds of abstinence were also increased by use of smoking cessation medication,” reported the paper.
“When used daily, electronic cigarettes appear to facilitate abstinence from smoking when compared with using no help,” concluded the researchers.
