United States: 6 in 10 adult vapers want to quit

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association by researchers at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, more than 60% of American adults over the age of 18 who use e-cigarettes want to quit.

The study[1], which analyzed longitudinal survey data from more than 30,000 adults across the country, aimed to provide an estimate of the number of Americans who want to quit their e-cigarette use or have already tried to quit.

Approximately 3% of U.S. adults over the age of 18 regularly use e-cigarettes, with the majority being current or former smokers of manufactured cigarettes. The most common use of e-cigarettes is as part of smoking cessation attempts, but study results show that e-cigarette use continues concurrently with tobacco products or after cessation of combustible cigarettes.

Regardless of consumer profile, a majority of e-cigarette users would like to stop vaping

Among respondents identified as regular users of vaping products, 31% were former smokers using exclusively e-cigarettes, 54% had dual use (vaping and tobacco products), and 14% used only vaping products but had never smoked before.

E-cigarette quit attempts and willingness to quit differed across groups. Never smokers were the most likely to have made quit attempts in the past 12 months (21%), followed by co-users (15%) and former smokers (8%). Regarding quit intentions, the distribution differed: former smokers represented the highest proportion indicating “planning to quit” (66%), followed by co-users (59%) and never smokers (55%).

E-cigarettes fuel nicotine addiction

E-cigarettes are being used by a growing number of smokers as a means of reducing risk and trying to quit smoking. However, according to the results of this study, many people continue to vape even after quitting smoking. Those who cannot quit smoking often end up using both traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes at the same time. According to the authors of the study, this dual consumption is specific to e-cigarettes because there is no such sustainable dual consumption with nicotine replacement therapy. Thus, it is rare to see a person still using a nicotine patch or gum months or years after quitting smoking.

Unlike other nicotine replacement therapies, e-cigarettes are designed to be addictive, making it difficult for users to quit. People who use both cigarettes and e-cigarettes often report feeling more addicted and having difficulty quitting either product.[2]One explanation is that vapers are exposed to higher doses of nicotine compared to people who smoke traditional cigarettes, because e-cigarettes are used continuously throughout the day and in places where smoking traditional cigarettes is prohibited.[3]. In addition, vaping products are the subject of very aggressive marketing, particularly from the tobacco industry, in the hope of recovering and perpetuating the consumption of traditional smokers through a "healthier alternative", making it more difficult to quit.

The dangers of dual consumption of electronic cigarettes and tobacco

Smokers who reduce the amount of tobacco they smoke and also use e-cigarettes mistakenly believe they are reducing their risks and improving their health. However, there is no threshold below which the health risks are zero in the area of smoking.[4]. Low consumption induces risks. Thus, consuming even one cigarette per day carries risks and only stopping completely brings net health benefits. According to a study presented at the Annual Congress of the European Respiratory Society[5], compared to those who have never smoked, "light smokers" die twice as much from respiratory diseases and eight times more from lung cancer, for which the duration of exposure is decisive. Recent data have also shown that, compared to people who have never smoked, one cigarette smoked per day increases the risk of heart attack by 57 % in women and 48% in men, and the risk of stroke by 31% and 25% respectively.[6].

Keywords: United States, Vaping, Electronic cigarette, Quitting, Nicotine, Addiction ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Dai H, Leventhal AM. Prevalence of e-cigarette use among adults in the United States, 2014-2018. JAMA. 2019;322(18):1824-1827. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.15331 [2] Emily Henderson, Study: More than 60% of adult e-cigarette users in the US want to quit, News Medical, April 3, 2021, accessed April 7, 2021 [3] Jankowski M, Krzystanek M, Zejda JE, et al. E-Cigarettes are More Addictive than Traditional Cigarettes-A Study in Highly Educated Young People. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;16(13):2279. Published 2019 Jun 27. doi:10.3390/ijerph16132279 [4] Tobacco Free Generation, “Small smoker” does not mean “small risks”, quite the contrary, September 10, 2020, accessed April 7, 2021 [5] Oelsner, EC, Balte, PP, et Al.. (2020). Lung function decline in former smokers and low-intensity current smokers: a secondary data analysis of the NHLBI Pooled Cohorts Study. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 8(1), 34-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30276-0 [6] Hackshaw HAS , Morris JK , Boniface S , Tang JL, Milenkovic D Low cigarette consumption and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: meta-analysis of 141 cohort studies in 55 study reports BMJ 2018;360:j5855 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.j5855 National Committee Against Smoking |