‘E-cigarettes lead to tobacco cessation, not initiation’

Two new United States surveys have found that 15-21 million U.S. adults used e-cigarettes regularly in 2013-2014; 3.2-4.3 million e-cigarette users no longer smoked cigarettes on a regular basis; and approximately 90 percent of regular e-cigarette users were/are regular cigarette smokers. The studies—which were presented in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, from Feb. 25-28 at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco—lead their authors to note that regular cigarette smokers were more likely to switch to regular use of less-harmful e-cigarettes than regular e-cigarette users were to transition to combustible cigarette use.

The first study analyzed 30,136 people from the National Tobacco Behavior Monitor survey. Results indicated that 8.7 percent of U.S. adults reported regular use of e-cigarettes, of which nearly 90 percent reported regular use of combustible cigarettes. More than 97 percent of those surveyed in the first study reported regular e-cigarette use after regular cigarette smoking; 23.7 percent indicated that they no longer use combustible cigarettes on a regular basis; and only 1.3 percent of those who use e-cigarettes regularly reported transitioning to current regular use of combustible cigarettes.

The second study—which analyzed data from the Total Tobacco Migration Tracker—involved 11,173 people and indicated that 6.1 percent of U.S. adults identified themselves as current, regular e-cigarette users, with more than 91 percent of those e-cigarette users reporting regular use of combustible cigarettes. More than 97 percent reported regular use of e-cigarettes after regular use of combustible cigarettes; 24.5 percent of those who regularly used e-cigarettes no longer reported regular smoking of traditional cigarettes; and only 1.7 percent of current, regular e-cigarette users reported switching to regular use of combustible cigarettes.

The results of this study lead its authors to determine that smokers of traditional cigarettes were 13.5 times more likely to transition to current, regular use of e-cigarettes than current, regular users of e-cigarettes were to transition to regular use of combustible cigarettes.

The studies were funded by RAI Services Co. and conducted by a team led by the company’s senior director of regulatory oversight, Geoffrey Curtin.