Switching to e-cigarettes may prove more difficult than for smokers who quit smoking.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), currently recommends that you give electronic nicotine delivery system products (yep. That's vapes) a try while trying to quit smoking.
Although the evidence is not conclusive, the public health agency acknowledges that it is'suggestive'. This can allow smokers in the US who are trying to wean from nicotine dependence to give vaping a try.
However, this advice could quickly swing the other direction as more examples are presented. This shows that there is less chance of you living smoke-free for many years to come if your tobacco use is replaced with vaporized nicotine.
Recent research by University of California San Diego researchers in the US may have swayed the evidence against the suggestion that vaping could be a useful way to quit smoking.
John P. Pierce, a cancer researcher, says quitting smoking is the best thing for your health. However, evidence suggests that switching to electronic cigarettes made it less likely to smoke and not more likely to quit.
Although traditional smoking has declined in recent years, e-cigarettes are booming. This shift may be in part due to smokers wanting to quit smoking and vaping as a safer option that allows them to transition to a nicotine-free lifestyle.
The science backs vaping's claims of having fewer health problems than smoking. It is a good idea to reduce the amount of toxic material that you inhale.
For anyone who is concerned about their future health, quitting smoking is the best goal.
It turns out that vaping is unlikely to play any role in this.
"Our study's goal was to determine if recent ex-smokers who switched to ecigarettes or other tobacco products were less likely than those who remained tobacco-free," Karen Messer, biostatistician and senior author of the study.
Messer and her coworkers evaluated 13,604 smokers who were identified between 2013-2015. Messer and her colleagues assessed 13,604 participants who were identified as established smokers between 2013 and 2015.
They also noted those who abandoned the habit, and then picked it up again later.
Just under one-tenth of the ten longest-standing smokers claimed that they had quit smoking. A little more than a third of those who were 'former smokers" switched to other forms of tobacco. The other form of tobacco use was used in 22.8 percent of these cases.
These individuals were more likely than others to be whiter, wealthier, and more dependent on smoking. They also tended to consider vaping safer.
There was also a greater chance that they would return to smoking cigarettes in the next twelve months.
Half of those who quit smoking after one year were still free from tobacco. Only 41.5 percent of vapers were successful.
"If switching to electronic cigarettes was an option to quitting smoking, then people who switch to ecigarettes should have lower relapse rates than those who smoked. Pierce says that there is no evidence to support this.
These observational studies are not without their flaws. Researchers simply ask volunteers to tell their stories, but this leaves less room for interpretation than if they were conducting controlled studies.
This is also a snapshot from a larger pattern that could lead to more vapers quitting.
E-cigarettes are still a relatively new cultural phenomenon. It will take time to collect the necessary data to understand how they affect health and lifestyle over the course of a lifetime. Vaping is also presenting a host of potential dangers, including deadly ones.
We don't have to wait for the perfect time to smoke our last cigarette. The science is settled on this point.
This research was published by JAMA Network Open.
