WEDNESDAY, April 7, 2021 (HealthDay News) — A majority of electronic cigarette users express interest in eventually quitting vaping, according to a research letter published online April 2 in JAMA Network Open.
Amanda M. Palmer, Ph.D., from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and colleagues used data from wave 4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (December 2016 to January 2018) to estimate interest in e-cigarette discontinuation among 30,191 U.S. adults.
The researchers found that 6.5 percent of participants were established e-cigarette users (every day or some days for more than 30 days; 59 percent men). More than half of identified e-cigarette users were concurrent established cigarette smokers (53.56 percent) or former cigarette smokers (>30 days; 31 percent). Of all e-cigarette smokers, 15.2 percent reported having made a past-year quit attempt and 60.7 reported future plans to quit e-cigarettes. Former cigarette smokers tended to show a higher interest in quitting versus other groups (measured by a scale of 1 to 10: former cigarette smokers’ mean level of interest in quitting, 4.2; dual users, 3.8; never cigarette smokers, 3.8).
“There is an urgent need for development of interventions to help individuals quit vaping, regardless of their cigarette smoking status,” the authors write. “Future research should also continue to monitor characteristics of e-cigarette users interested in quitting.”
One author disclosed receiving personal fees from expert testimony on behalf of plaintiffs who filed litigation against the tobacco industry.
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