Vaping does not help most people quit cigarette smoking, according to a new study.
People who both vape and smoke cigarettes are far less likely to give up nicotine than those who only smoke cigarettes.
While the long-term health effects are unknown, vaping exposes the lungs to noxious chemicals that lead to inflammation and irritation. Vaping nicotine is also habit-forming.
Nicotine replacement therapy and quitlines are some of the most successful ways of quitting vaping and smoking.
Smoking e-cigarettes containing nicotine has become a very popular alternative to cigarette smoking.
The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source reports that, in 2021, 11% of adults between 18 and 24 years old in the United States were vaping on a regular basis. Among all U.S. adults over 18, the percentage was about 4.5%.
Relative to older adults, those aged 18 to 44 years were more likely to vape e-cigarettes in addition to smoking traditional cigarettes, the CDC found.
Because the e-cigarette market has only developed in recent years, the long-term health effects of vaping are unknown.
Most people assume that vaping has the ability to suppress the smoking habit of cigarettes, but recent research suggests that this may not be the case.
Research published March 5 in JAMA Network OpenTrusted Source found that those who vape and smoke are more likely to increase nicotine dependence.
Quit rates were roughly 15% lower in those who vaped daily
Researchers at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science and Moores Cancer Center at the University of California San Diego conducted the cohort study.
The study included 6,013 American smokers of cigarettes, making comparisons between people who smoked and people who also vaped.
In people who vaped on a non-daily basis, the rate of people quitting smoking was 5.3% lower compared to smokers who did not vape.
In people who vaped on a daily basis, the quitting rate was the same as in people who did not vape.
Among daily vapers, the rate of quitting both e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes was 14.7% lower than in people who did not vape at all.
In people who did not vape daily, the rate of quitting was 7.2% lower than in people who smoked and did not vape at all.
These findings show that vaping does not help with transitioning from cigarettes.
Health dangers of vaping
As the research of the new study indicates, vaping is at least as addictive as cigarette smoking.
When one vapes, aerosolized e-liquid or “vape juice” is released into the lungs.
When this mixture of nicotine, flavorings, propylene glycol, and other chemicals reach the lungs, there may be inflammation and irritation.
E-liquids may also contain random heavy metals such as tin, lead, nickel, cadmium, and chemicals such as acetaldehyde and formaldehyde.
Vaping aerosol sends tiny particles of these foreign substances to the lungs, where they can be embedded in lung tissue.
While the long-term effects of vaping are not yet known, there are already several concerns about the potential health implications.
Some research also suggests that vaping may be a contributor to cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
“There have been cases of vaping-associated lung injury and respiratory failure,” Jimmy Johannes, MD, a pulmonologist and critical care medicine specialist at Memorial Care Long Beach Medical Center in Long Beach, CA, told Healthline in an interview. Johannes was not involved in the new study.
“There is also the potential that some vaping products may have adulterants,” he told Healthline.
These can vary from vitamin E acetate, which has been associated with lung damage, to bacterial and fungal byproducts.
Quitlines can help with smoking, vaping cessation
Cigarette smoking may be on the decline, but vaping remains popular.
Since vaping is so well-liked by so many, a priority has been placed on identifying effective methods for helping people quit e-cigarettes.
American Heart Association (AHA)Trusted Source-funded study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that “quitlines” are very effective at helping people achieve vaping cessation.
The large randomized trial found that 45%, or nearly half, of all participants had quit vaping and were abstinent three months after the trial concluded.
A quitline is a phone number one dials for live support when attempting to stop vaping.
For the AHA study, quitlines provided various combinations of:
- coaching
- nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) sent by mail to the caller
- mHealth, texted links to quit materials such as videos, podcasts, and online educational modules.
NRT can be a variety of alternatives to nicotine, including lozenges, nicotine patches, inhalers, gum, and sprays.
One advantage of NRTs delivered via quitlines is that potentially expensive products can be offered to the caller for free.
“NRT is a great tool to help patients quit smoking,” said Ozan Toy, MD, MPH, of Telapsychiatry. Toy was not a part of the new study.
“You are essentially replacing the most addictive component of cigarettes, which is the nicotine, but avoiding the toxic chemicals that people are exposed to through smoking,” Toy said.
He told Healthline that NRT gum or patches in conjunction with medication like varenicline can help break a vaping or smoking habit.
Alison Tarlow, PsyD, chief clinical officer at Boca Recovery Center, FL, described how her own e-cigarette use led to increased nicotine use. She said there was greater “social acceptance” of vaping compared to smoking. Tarlow was not part of the study either.
Tarlow explained that she finally quit vaping by weaning herself from nicotine to a strawberry-kiwi e-cigarette. She liked the act of vaping but was not craving the e-cigarette and ended up kicking the habit altogether.
Takeaway
Available evidence concludes that vaping nicotine is not an effective way to quit smoking cigarettes.
People who both vape and smoke cigarettes are less likely to quit than those who only smoke cigarettes.
Vaping itself perpetuates nicotine addiction, and is accompanied by many potential health harms, though the long-term health effects of vaping are unknown.
