Vaping Doesn’t Help People Quit Smoking, Study Finds

• Vaping does not help most people quit smoking cigarettes, according to a new study.
• People who vape and smoke cigarettes are far less likely to leave nicotine behind than people who only smoke cigarettes.
• While the long-term health effects are unclear, vaping introduces harmful substances into the lungs, promoting inflammation and irritation. Vaping nicotine is also addictive.
• Among the most successful ways to quit vaping and smoking are quitlines and nicotine replacement therapy.

Smoking nicotine-based e-cigarettes has become a widespread alternative to cigarette smoking.

When compared to older adults, those ages 18 to 44 were more likely to both vape e-cigarettes and smoke traditional cigarettes, the CDC found.

Given the recent rise of the e-cigarette industry, the long-term health effects of vaping remain unknown.

A study published on March 5 in JAMA Network Open found that people who both vape and smoke are more likely to increase their nicotine dependence.

Researchers from 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 U.S. cigarette smokers, comparing people who smoked with people who also vaped.

For people who vaped on a non-daily basis, the rate at which people were able to quit smoking was 5.3% lower than it was among smokers who did not vape.

For people who vaped daily, the quitting rate was the same as for those who did not vape.

Among those who vaped daily, the rate at which people stopped using both e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes was 14.7% lower than people who did not vape at all.

For those who did not vape daily, the quitting rate was 7.2% lower than it was for people who smoked and did not vape at all.

These findings suggest that vaping doesn’t help people transition from cigarettes.

As indicated by the new study’s findings, vaping is at least as addictive as cigarette smoking.

When a person vapes, aerosolized e-liquid or “vape juice” is released into the lungs.

When this mixture of nicotine, flavorings, propylene glycol, and other substances enter the lungs, inflammation and irritation may occur.

E-liquids may also contain random heavy metals such as tin, lead, nickel, cadmium, and chemicals, including acetaldehyde and formaldehyde.

Vaping mist carries tiny particles of these foreign materials into the lungs, which can become embedded in lung tissue.

While the long-term effects of vaping are not well understood, there are already several areas of concern about the potential health impacts.

“There have been cases of vaping associated with lung injury and respiratory failure,” Jimmy Johannes, MD, pulmonologist and critical care medicine specialist at Memorial Care Long Beach Medical Center in Long Beach, CA, told Healthline. Johannes wasn’t involved in the new study.

“There is also a potential risk that some vaping products may have adulterants,” he told Healthline.

Such substances may include vitamin E acetate, which has been associated with lung injuries, and bacterial and fungal products.

Although cigarette smoking is on the decline, vaping’s popularity remains strong.

With so many people vaping, identifying promising strategies for helping people leave e-cigarettes behind has become a priority.

The large randomized trial found that 45%, or nearly half, of all participants, had quit vaping and continued to be abstinent three months beyond the conclusion of the trial.

A quitline is a phone number one can call for live support when attempting to quit vaping.

In the case of the AHA study, quitlines provided various combinations of:

NRT may consist of several substitutes for nicotine, including lozenges, nicotine patches, inhalers, gum, and sprays.

One advantage of NRTs supplied by quitlines is that these often expensive items may be provided to the caller for free.

“NRT is a great tool to help patients quit smoking,” said Ozan Toy, MD, MPH, of Telapsychiatry. Toy wasn’t involved in 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, explained how switching to e-cigarettes increased her consumption of nicotine. She described there being more “social acceptance” of vaping compared to smoking. Tarlow was likewise not involved in the study.

Tarlow shared she finally quit vaping by switching from nicotine to a strawberry-kiwi e-cigarette. She found satisfaction in the act of vaping but did not crave the e-cigarette and eventually fell out of the habit altogether.