Vapers are 3.5 Times More Likely To Try To Quit Smoking

The Tennessee Department of Health (DOH) released the results of a recent study which suggests vaping is more of a smoking cessation tool than many public officials might like to admit.  The report published just last week takes special care to mention that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not yet approve electronic cigarettes for this purpose. However, the Tennessee DOH statists show that smokers newly engaging in dual use are 3.5 times more likely to attempt to quit smoking permanently at least once within the first 12-months of vaping. An abstract of the study entitled E-cigarette usage and its association with attempted cessation among adult smokers, Tennessee Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2016 is published on the Atlanta chapter of the American Public Health Association (APHA).  According to the report, 2016 was the very first time that Tennessee officials conducted a survey of this kind or magnitude.

Overview of the Tennessee DOH vape study

The public health officials began by evaluating a cross-sectional selection of 6,167 observations from randomly selected smoking adults over the age of 18.  Participants were split into two group:  Smokers who vape and smokers who do not vape. Using some very scientific research methodologies involving multivariate logistic regression, the scientists’ main objective was to compare the number of attempts to quit smoking over a 12-month period between participants of each group.

• 6,167 respondents took part in the study.
• 1,178 were current smokers.
• 261 of the current smokers were also dual users.
• 681 of the current smokers reported at least one quit attempt within the 12-month timeframe.
• Dual users were 3.6 times more likely to attempt to quit smoking than non-vapers.

However, the Tennessee research team apparently also considered several social and economic factors that might influence one’s ability to either quit smoking or start vaping or both.  After adjusting for these factors, they concluded that dual users are 3.5 times more likely to attempt to quit smoking within the first year of vaping. “Income and frequency of cigarette smoking were found to be confounders and were included in the final model to determine the adjusted odds. While controlling for these covariates, smokers who use e-cigarettes were 3.5 (CI: 2.0, 6.1) times more likely to report trying to quit smoking cigarettes during the past 12 months than non-e-cigarette smokers. Conclusion: This analysis provides evidence that current Tennessee adult smokers may be using e-cigarettes as a cessation aid to quit smoking.” The result of the Tennessee DOH study are no longer surprising, at least for the U.S. vaping community.  Multiple recent studies with a similar scientific objective have produced remarkably comparable results.  In a recent study conducted by researchers from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Rutgers School of Public Health, the data shows dual users are 48.9 percent more likely to initiate at least one quit-smoking attempt in their first year of vaping with an impressive average success rate as high as 52 percent.