A new study has claimed that smokers using electronic cigarettes find it easier to kick their nicotine habits than non-vapers. The study, which is based on survey data pooled from over 160,000 people over an almost 15-year time-span, also found that 65% of e-cig users attempted to quit smoking, as opposed to 40% of regular smokers.

The BMJ study, titled "E-cigarette use and associated changes in population smoking cessation: evidence from US current population surveys" was undertaken to find whether the dramatic increase in vaping between 2010-2014 had any connection with an overall drop in smoking in the US.

"This study, based on the largest representative sample of e-cigarette users to date, provides a strong case that e-cigarette use was associated with an increase in smoking cessation at the population level," it reads.

"We found that e-cigarette use was associated with an increased smoking cessation rate at the level of subgroup analysis and at the overall population level. This is the first statistically significant increase observed in population smoking cessation among US adults in nearly a quarter of a century."

The cigarettes vs. e-cigarettes debate has reached far beyond public opinion and into the scientific community since the latter's popularity has spiked in recent years. Previous studies have found that vaping is a "safer" alternative to smoking regular cigarettes, but that they carry their own health risks.

While the BMJ study does not address the number of current smokers who adopted the habit via e-cigarettes, it does support the notion that quitting is easier for e-cigarette smokers. The survey details that around 8% of e-cig smokers managed to quit for at least three months compared to roughly 5% of regular smokers.

The study posits that "these findings need to be weighed carefully in regulatory policy making and in the planning of tobacco control interventions". </s> With the rising popularity of e-cigarettes, the debate over whether these devices are a legitimate aid to smoking cessation -- or just another way for people to get hooked on nicotine -- has raged in recent years.

Now, a new study suggesting that e-cigarettes may, indeed, help smokers stub out their habit may spark further discussion.

E-cigarettes are electronic devices that allow users to inhale flavored vapor that typically contains nicotine. The use of e-cigarettes, also called “vaping,” has boomed in the United States in recent years and they are now used by over 9 million Americans. The new study, published in the BMJ, a medical journal, stands in contrast to previous studies suggesting that using e-cigarettes actually make it harder to quit.

In the new study, researchers looked at data on the smoking habits of more than 160,000 Americans, taking particular note of whether these smokers reported using e-cigarettes or not. They found that 65 percent of smokers who used e-cigarettes attempted to quit, while only 40 percent of those not using the devices tried to quit smoking. The study also found that around 8 percent of smokers who used e-cigarettes who tried to quit were successful, compared to only around 5 percent of nonusers.

The study further suggests that e-cigarettes, rather than other factors like higher taxes or anti-tobacco campaigns, were responsible for the increased rate of quitting.

“We need to continue to monitor the impact; we don’t know what the safety level is of long-term e-cigarette use,” said Dr. Shu-Hong Zhu, lead author of the study and a professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego. But, he added, the findings strengthen the case for the potential benefits of these devices for smokers trying to quit.

“We are pretty confident that e-cigarettes are less dangerous, but that is only because cigarettes are so bad,” he said.

But while the risks of e-cigarettes are still somewhat unclear, some public health experts say the results are promising.

“The rate at which people have made a quit attempt or successfully quit smoking has stagnated for many years,” said Dr. Kurt Ribisl, a professor at the University of North Carolina and a former member of the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee. “For the first time in a long time, we are seeing more people quitting.”

Still, other experts in the field regarded these new findings with caution.

“E-cigarettes have not been demonstrated to be effective as a smoking cessation device and the overall evidence is that it makes it harder to quit,” said Dr. Stanton Glantz, a tobacco control expert at the University of California, San Francisco.

Glantz, in fact, previously authored a study finding that e-cigarettes may actually stymie efforts to quit smoking. But despite this, he said the findings of the new study warrant consideration -- a viewpoint shared by others in the field as well.

“The people who say that use of e-cigarettes inhibits cessation should be sobered by this paper,” said Dr. Steven Schroeder, a physician and tobacco researcher also at UCSF. “They should think twice about this viewpoint.”

But while this research suggests a link between e-cigarettes and quitting smoking, it will not be changing what doctors advise their patients -- at least not yet. The current guidelines for electronic cigarettes from the American Heart Association (AHA) recommend starting with FDA-approved therapies such as nicotine replacement and cessation counseling, which past research has shown to be effective.

The AHA also says that it is reasonable for physicians to support a patient’s use of an e-cigarette to stop smoking if they have failed approved therapies and would like to try this approach -- a far cry from doctors prescribing the devices to patients.

Will Garneau, M.D., is an internal medicine resident at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. </s> A new study, based on data from a large survey of current and former smokers in the United States, provides some of the strongest evidence yet that electronic cigarettes are helping Americans move from the former group to the latter. The study, reported this month in the BMJ, finds that quit attempt and smoking cessation rates both increased significantly during the period when e-cigarette sales took off. Furthermore, these changes were entirely attributable to increased quitting among e-cigarette users, who were more likely to try and more likely to succeed than smokers who did not vape.

The researchers, led by University of California at San Diego public health professor Shu-Hong Zhu, found that 45.9 percent of smokers reported quit attempts in the 2014-15 Current Population Survey, up from 41.4 percent in 2010-11. The percentage who stopped smoking for at least three months also rose, from 4.5 percent to 5.6 percent. "This is the first time in almost a quarter of a century that the smoking cessation rate in the US has increased at the population level," Zhu and his colleagues write. "The 1.1 percentage point increase in cessation rate...might appear small, but it represents approximately 350 000 additional US smokers who quit in 2014-15."

What happened during this period that might account for the change? Zhu et al. note that e-cigarette use in the U.S. "became noticeable around 2010 and increased dramatically by 2014."

That correlation is reinforced by the researchers' subgroup analysis of the 2014-15 data, which found that 65 percent of smokers who had used e-cigarettes in the previous year had tried quitting, compared to 40 percent of the other smokers. "Numerically speaking," the authors say, "it was this e-cigarette user subgroup that raised the overall quit attempt rate for 2014-15, and thus the rate was statistically significantly higher than in all previous survey years."

Vapers also had a higher cessation rate than nonvapers in 2014-15: 8.2 percent vs. 4.8 percent. "Again," Zhu et al. write, "the 2014-15 survey had a noticeably higher overall cessation rate because the e-cigarette user subgroup had a higher cessation rate than those who did not report e-cigarette use in the past year."

Since this is an observational study rather than a randomized, controlled experiment, alternative explanations are possible. But the researchers persuasively argue that neither the 2009 increase in the federal tobacco tax nor the TIPS From Former Smokers ad campaign that began in 2012 can adequately explain the increase in smoking cessation, especially in light of the stark subgroup differences. The impact of the tax hike was relatively small and short-lived, Zhu et al. say, while it is hard to see why the anti-smoking ads would have had an impact only on smokers "who happened to use e-cigarettes in 2014-15."

Still, smokers who try vaping may differ from those who do not in ways that make them more likely to quit. "Given that the e-cigarette user subgroup was the only group that had statistically significantly higher rates in 2014-15," Zhu et al. say, "it is tempting to attribute the increase in the overall smoking cessation rate in 2014-15 solely to e-cigarette use. However, e-cigarette use itself could be an indicator of motivation to quit smoking, which would predict a higher quit rate. Thus, attributing the full 73% relative difference to e-cigarettes is likely an overestimate of their effect."

These results nevertheless should allay fears that e-cigarettes might somehow make smoking more common than it would otherwise be. To the contrary, the vaping alternative seems to be accelerating the downward trend in the smoking rate, which in this survey fell from 21 percent in 2001-02 to less than 14 percent in 2014-15. Any regulatory policy that makes e-cigarettes less accessible or less appealing to smokers, such as the onerous rules unveiled by the Food and Drug Administration last year, is apt to have the opposite effect, with potentially deadly consequences.

"We found that e-cigarette use was associated with an increased smoking cessation rate at the level of subgroup analysis and at the overall population level," Zhu et al. conclude. "It is remarkable, considering that this is the kind of data pattern that has been predicted but not observed at the population level for cessation medication, such as nicotine replacement therapy and varenicline....These findings need to be weighed carefully in regulatory policy making and in the planning of tobacco control interventions." </s> related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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A rise in the use of electronic cigarettes among American adults is linked to a significant increase in the numbers of people quitting smoking, researchers said on Wednesday.

LONDON: A rise in the use of electronic cigarettes among American adults is linked to a significant increase in the numbers of people quitting smoking, researchers said on Wednesday.

In a study published in the BMJ British medical journal, scientists from California said their findings were based on the largest representative sample of e-cigarette users to date and provided a "strong case" that e-cigarettes have helped to increase rates of smoking cessation.

"These findings need to be weighed carefully in regulatory policy making and in the planning of tobacco control interventions," the researchers, led by Shu-Hong Zhu at the University of California, said in their study.

The global scientific community is divided over e-cigarettes and whether they are a useful public health tool as a nicotine replacement therapy or a potential "gateway" for young people to move on to start smoking tobacco.

Many specialists, including health experts at Public Health England, think e-cigarettes, which contain nicotine but no tobacco, are a lower-risk alternative to smoking.

But the U.S. surgeon general last year urged lawmakers to impose price and tax policies that would discourage their use.

Zhu's study used five U.S. population surveys dating from 2001 to 2015. E-cigarette users were identified from the most recent survey in 2014/15, and smoking quit rates were obtained from those who had reported smoking cigarettes 12 months before the survey. Rates were then compared to four earlier surveys.

The results showed that e-cigarette users were more likely than non-users to make a quit attempt (65 percent versus 40 percent) and more likely to succeed in quitting smoking tobacco for at least three months.

The overall population quit rate for 2014/15 was 5.6 percent, up from 4.5 percent in 2010/11, and higher than the rates in all other survey years.

The researchers said that while the 1.1 percentage point rise in the smoking cessation seemed small, it represented around 350,000 additional U.S. smokers who quit in 2014/15.

"Other interventions that occurred concurrently, such as a national campaign showing evocative ads that highlight the serious health consequences of tobacco use, most likely played a role in increasing the cessation rate," Zhu said.

"But this analysis presents a strong case that e-cigarette use also played an important role."

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, an expert at Britain's Oxford University and at the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group who was not involved in the BMJ research, said the findings suggested e-cigarettes may prove a useful tool in bringing tobacco use down.

"Findings from this study are promising and are consistent with a growing body of evidence ... that electronic cigarettes with nicotine may help people stop smoking," she said. </s> According to researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center, there is finally an increase in the smoking cessation rate. The study finds that more people using e-cigarettes are responsible for quitting smoking and these electronic devices can actually help reduce the traditional smoking rates. The study was published yesterday in the British Medical Journal. Researchers looked at data from a national survey and large population based study between 2001 and 2015.

The study showed that the yearly rate of individuals who quit smoking has been around 4.5% for years. In their survey over 15 years, only at the end – 2014-15, the Current Population Survey-Tobacco Use Supplement (CPS-TUS) survey has shown the smoking cessation rate to be 5.6%. The percentage rise of 1.1% translates to approximately 350,000 smokers who quit smoking over a year explain researchers and this is not a small number.

Lead researcher Shu-Hong Zhu, UC San Diego Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health and director of the Center for Research and Intervention in Tobacco Control says that two important factors have contributed to this trend – one being the mass tobacco control campaign that has been in place since 2012 all over the media and another is the increasing popularity of e-cigarettes since 2014. Zhu explained that smokers who shifted to e-cigarettes were more likely to attempt to quit smoking and more likely to succeed in kicking the habit. The analysis, Zhu explained, pointed at success rates in individuals as well as in large populations. This finally was reflected in the increasing numbers of quitters. The data from the US Census CPS-TUS that looked at adults over the age of 18 years connected the link between e-cigarette use and smoking cessation. This study thus looked at a very large population and the results thus could be trusted to be valid.

The participants in the study were given a set of questionnaires that asked them about their regular use of traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes over the last year. Results showed that nearly 65% of the smokers who used the e-cigarettes had attempted to quit smoking the traditional cigarettes over the study period. This was comparable to 40% of the traditional smokers who had attempted to quit smoking. Success rates in quitting smoking was 8.2% among e-cigarette smokers and 4.8% among traditional cigarette smokers. Over the years the quitting rate remained same for traditional smokers while the rates of quitting among e-cigarettes rose significantly Zhu noted. Zhu said that these numbers suggest that e-cigarettes could be an important smoking cessation tool. This thought however has been refuted earlier in some studies. But this team of researchers found that over 70% of individuals who had successfully quit smoking traditional cigarettes were still using e-cigarettes daily. This could help prevent them from lapsing back into their smoking habit.

Zhu explained that e-cigarette users are usually a self-selected group and may do better with choosing to smoke e-cigarettes and are usually motivated to quit smoking anyway. But this study looked at the whole population of both users and non-users to analyse if e-cigarettes play a role. The study did not look at the long term effects of smoking e-cigarettes though. Also the study did not explore other factors that could be concomitantly associated with quitting rates such as use of other medications to quit smoking or the type of e-cigarettes used etc.

Electronic cigarettes are devices that deliver nicotine and flavours though aerosols into the lungs. It’s use is a rapidly rising trend among the youth. Vapours are inhaled and the term “vaping” has emerged out of it. They can also deliver other drugs such as marijuana. Their long term effects are still not understood but it is evident that inhaling nicotine may not be good for a person especially for teenagers and youth who perceive this as a safer alternative to smoking.

A report in 2016 called the U.S. Surgeon General’s report looked at the use of e-cigarettes among the youth and was the first of its kind. It warned that this could pave the way for adolescents for life time of smoking.

E-cigarettes are a $2.5 billion business in the U.S. and flavours used in it make it more attractive to younger customers. There are a large proportion of smokers who use both traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes studies find.

The cigarette itself has a battery, a chamber to vapourise the nicotine and the e-cigarette liquid. The liquid comes in a sealed cartridge or the cigarette may be connected to a tank system for continuous supply. Some units may have an atomizer connected to the cartridge called a cartomizer. The earlier e-cigarettes had these cartomizers. Newer ones are available with a variety of options including tank systems and cartomizers. E cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide like traditional cigarettes. So they vaporize instead of burning the nicotine. </s> The soaring popularity of vaping has been linked to a sharp rise in smokers quitting the habit.

The recent rise in e-cigarette use among adult smokers is associated with a "significant increase" in the number stubbing out smoking, according to a study published in The BMJ.

Researchers say the findings of the American study, based on the largest representative sample of e-cigarette users to date, provides a "strong case" that they have helped to increase the number of people quitting smoking.

Currently, the scientific community is divided over whether e-cigs are an aid to quitting smoking.

Some suggest that they will have a positive impact on smoking rates by acting as a nicotine replacement therapy.

But others argue that they could reduce the urgency to quit smoking.

A team of researchers, led by Professor Shu-Hong Zhu at the University of California, set out to examine whether the increase in use of e-cigarettes in the US, was associated with a change in overall rates of people quitting smoking.

They based their findings on five population surveys dating from 2001 to 2015.

E-cigarette users were identified from the most recent survey (2014-15) and smoking cessation rates were obtained from those who reported smoking cigarettes 12 months before the survey. Rates from this survey were then compared to four earlier surveys.

Of 161,054 respondents to the 2014-15 survey, 22,548 were current smokers and 2,136 recent quitters. Among them, 38.2 per cent of current smokers and 49.3 per cent of recent quitters had tried e-cigarettes.

The results show that vapers (65 per cent) were more likely than non e-cig users (40 per cent) to make an attempt to quit, and more likely to succeed in quitting for at least three months (8.2 per cent v 4.8 per cent).

The overall population quit rate for 2014-15 was "significantly higher" - from 4.5 per cent to 5.6 per cent - than that for 2010-11, and higher than those for all other survey years.

Although the 1.1 percentage point increase in cessation rate might appear small, the researchers pointed out that it represents around 350,000 additional smokers who quit in 2014-15.

They said the study has two key findings. First, in 2014-15, e-cigarette users attempted to quit cigarette smoking and succeeded in quitting smoking at higher rates than non-users. Secondly, the overall smoking cessation rate in 2014-15 increased "significantly" from that of 2010-11.

Prof Zhu said: "Other interventions that occurred concurrently, such as a national campaign showing evocative ads that highlight the serious health consequences of tobacco use, most likely played a role in increasing the cessation rate.

"But this analysis presents a strong case that e-cigarette use also played an important role."

He added: "These findings need to be weighed carefully in regulatory policy making and in the planning of tobacco control interventions."

In an accompanying editorial, Christopher Bullen, Professor of Public Health at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, says this study raises important points.

He questioned whether other tobacco control interventions operating at the same time may have been key triggers to the observed step change.

But he said the findings of the American study "mount a convincing case for why the two most likely candidates - a large federal tobacco tax increase in 2009 and a nationwide mass media campaign - could not be stand-alone reasons for the change in cessation rates."

Prof Bullen also pointed out that the figures came from populations in countries with liberal regulatory approaches towards e-cigarettes, enabling substantial numbers of smokers to make the transition away from smoking.

He added: "In light of this evidence, policymakers in countries contemplating a more restrictive approach to the regulation of e-cigarettes should pause to consider if pursuing such a course of action is the right thing to do for population health." </s> NEW YORK (AP) – People who used e-cigarettes were more likely to kick the habit than those who didn’t, a new study found.

Nicotine patches, gums and medications are known to aid smoking cessation, but there’s no consensus on whether vaping devices can help anti-smoking efforts. The U.S. research is the largest look yet at electronic cigarette users and it found e-cigarettes played a role in helping people quit.

“It’s absolutely clear that e-cigarettes help smokers replace cigarettes,” said Peter Hajek, director of the health and lifestyle research unit at Queen Mary University in London, who wasn’t part of the study.

Smoking rates have been generally declining for decades. Health experts have credited taxes on tobacco products and anti-smoking ads for the drop.

E-cigarettes have been sold in the U.S. since 2007. Most devices heat a liquid nicotine solution into vapor and were promoted to smokers as a less dangerous alternative since they don’t contain all the chemicals, tar or odor of regular cigarettes.

Researchers analyzed and compared data collected by the U.S. Census from 2001 to 2015, including the number of adult e-cigarette users from the most recent survey.

About two-thirds of e-cigarette users tried to quit smoking compared to 40 percent of non-users, the study found. E-cigarette users were more likely to succeed in quitting for at least three months than non-users — 8 percent versus 5 percent.

The research was published online Wednesday in the journal, BMJ. It was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The rate of people quitting smoking in the U.S. has remained steady at about 4.5 percent for years. It jumped to 5.6 percent in 2014-2015, representing about 350,000 fewer smokers. It was the first recorded rise in the smoking cessation rate in 15 years.

While national anti-smoking campaigns likely helped, the results show e-cigarette use also played an important role, said lead author Shu-Hong Zhu of the University of California, San Diego.

Hajek, who wasn’t part of the research, said vaping devices shouldn’t be strictly regulated, but instead be allowed to compete directly with cigarettes. “That way, smokers can get what they want without killing themselves,” he said.

Earlier this month, a House panel renewed its efforts to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from requiring retroactive safety reviews of e-cigarettes already on the market.

Others warned that the long-term side effects of e-cigarettes are unknown.

“We just don’t know if moving to e-cigarettes is good enough to reduce the harm,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, director of the American Heart Association’s Tobacco Research and Addiction Center.

Chris Bullen, who authored an accompanying editorial , said although the long-term safety of e-cigarettes is unclear, any ill effects are “likely to be rare compared with the harms of continuing to smoke.”

The latest results strongly suggest that more lenient control of e-cigarettes could improve population health, said Bullen, a professor of public health at the University of Auckland.

“If every smoker was to change over to e-cigarettes completely, there would be a dramatic and almost immediate public health benefit,” he said in an email. </s> People who used e-cigarettes were more likely to kick the habit than those who didn’t, a new study found.

Nicotine patches, gums and medications are known to aid smoking cessation, but there’s no consensus on whether vaping devices can help anti-smoking efforts. The U.S. research is the largest look yet at electronic cigarette users and it found e-cigarettes played a role in helping people quit.

“It’s absolutely clear that e-cigarettes help smokers replace cigarettes,” said Peter Hajek, director of the health and lifestyle research unit at Queen Mary University in London, who wasn’t part of the study.

Smoking rates have been generally declining for decades. Health experts have credited taxes on tobacco products and anti-smoking ads for the drop.

E-cigarettes have been sold in the U.S. since 2007. Most devices heat a liquid nicotine solution into vapor and were promoted to smokers as a less dangerous alternative since they don’t contain all the chemicals, tar or odor of regular cigarettes.

Researchers analyzed and compared data collected by the U.S. Census from 2001 to 2015, including the number of adult e-cigarette users from the most recent survey.

About two-thirds of e-cigarette users tried to quit smoking compared to 40 percent of nonusers, the study found. E-cigarette users were more likely to succeed in quitting for at least three months than nonusers – 8 percent versus 5 percent.

The research was published online Wednesday in the journal, BMJ. It was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The rate of people quitting smoking in the U.S. has remained steady at about 4.5 percent for years. It jumped to 5.6 percent in 2014-2015, representing about 350,000 fewer smokers. It was the first recorded rise in the smoking cessation rate in 15 years.

While national anti-smoking campaigns likely helped, the results show e-cigarette use also played an important role, said lead author Shu-Hong Zhu of the University of California, San Diego.

Hajek, who wasn’t part of the research, said vaping devices shouldn’t be strictly regulated, but instead be allowed to compete directly with cigarettes. “That way, smokers can get what they want without killing themselves,” he said.

Earlier this month, a House panel renewed its efforts to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from requiring retroactive safety reviews of e-cigarettes already on the market. </s> Many smokers have turned to e-cigarettes and vapes as an alternative to traditional tobacco products.

A new study suggests that these products are not without risks of their own.

According to Dr. Donald Cross, Director of Cardiology of Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Hillcrest, currently there is not much medical research on the effects.

"The e-cigarette is fairly new and scientifically we really don't know so we're starting to collect that data."

In a recent study from The Journal of the American Medical Association, they found habitual users of electronic cigarettes are more likely to show increased cardiovascular risks.

"The nicotine that's aerosolized in the e-cigarette may have some detrimental effects to the heart just like you get from the cigarette," Cross said. "If people are thinking the e-cigarette is something they are going to use lifelong because it's safe for them this research really brings this into question."

Many of the juices or liquids used in the e-cigarettes are offered with nicotine. The amount varies allowing users to cut down on their intake or eliminate it completely. Right now, Dr. Cross says that may be the most heart healthy choice.

"This study suggests more research needs to be done and we can't think that the e-cigarette is completely safe," he said.
A new study, published in the The BMJ medical journal, finds that electronic cigarettes may help smokers stop their habit. The researchers found that a substantial increase in e-cigarette use among American adult smokers was associated with a statistically significant increase in the smoking cessation rate.