E-cig users not more likely to quit, study contends

Most smokers who used electronic cigarettes as a way to quit tobacco use did not quit more often than non e-cigarette users, according to a study, raising further doubt over supporter claims about the efficacy of such devices as a cessation aid.

The study, published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine, compared tobacco smoking between those who reported also using e-cigarettes with those who did not and found that 14% of the non e-cig users quit after one year compared to 11% of e-cig users.

Also, researchers found that e-cigarette use was not associated with a decline in consumption, with e-cig users smoking an average of 16 tobacco cigarettes a day compared with 14 by non e-cig users.

The findings will likely add to the controversy that has swirled around electronic cigarettes in recent years. The devices, which heat a liquid nicotine solution to create an inhalable vapor, have steadily grown in popularity among young people and adults. Sales of the products reached about $1.8 billion in 2013, and are projected to surpass tobacco cigarette sales by 2047.

Still, proponents will likely point out that the sample size of this latest study is too small to make an overall assessment over the effectiveness of the devices as a tobacco cessation aid. The study included 949 participants, of which, only 88 were reportedly users of electronic cigarettes.

“The low numbers of e-cigarette users in this sample, particularly e-cigarette users who quit smoking, may have limited our statistical power to detect a significant relationship between cigarette use and quitting,” study authors noted. “Nonetheless, our data add to the current evidence that e-cigarettes may not increase rates of smoking cessation.”

Follow Steven Ross Johnson on Twitter: @MHsjohnson