Smokers who can't quit their habit are often advised to quit gradually, including by switching to tobacco-free e-cigarettes. A new study has shown that these half-measures are completely ineffective in stopping smoking.
To assess how useful e-cigarettes are in quitting «traditional» smoking, scientists from the University of California used data from a large national study involving 13.6 thousand Americans. They were all smokers who had recently given up their habit in favor of vaping. During the three-year observation period, participants completed surveys three times a year in which they talked about their changes.
After the second year of observation, it turned out that approximately 50% of the volunteers completely gave up tobacco cigarettes. However, only 41.5% of volunteers were able to give up all types of smoking, including vaping.
The biggest finding was that vaping turned out to be the least effective way to quit smoking — the probability of returning to your habits was 8.5% higher compared to other methods (nicotine patches, drug therapy, etc.).
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“If switching to e-cigarettes was a viable way to quit smoking, those who did would have far fewer relapses. We found no evidence for this,” said study lead author John Pierce, a professor at the University of California Public Health Institute. span>
Scientists have previously found a link between e-cigarette smoking and cognitive decline in adolescents. The earlier a person started smoking or vaping, the more significant the association was. It was most often reported by those who started between the ages of eight and 13.