The study titled, “Association between e-cigarette use initiated after cigarette smoking and smoking abstinence: a cross-sectional study among adolescent established smokers in the USA,” aimed to examine the relationship between e-cigarette use initiation as a means to quit smoking and initiated after cigarette smoking and abstinence from cigarette smoking among US adolescent established smokers.
The researchers said that they did not find an association between e-cigarette use and subsequent abstinence from smoking among adolescents who were established smokers. Moreover, added the researchers, there was some evidence of an inverse association among experimental and current established e-cigarette users.
Research indicating otherwise
However, a recent review aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of electronic cigarettes as smoking cessation tools, in comparison to traditional NRTs, confirmed that quitting rates tend to be higher in people who use nicotine-containing e-cigarettes.
The Cochrane Review titled, “Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation,” looked through research in order to evaluate the effect and safety of using electronic cigarettes (ECs) to help people who smoke achieve long‐term smoking abstinence.
The researchers looked through randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and randomized cross‐over trials in which smokers were split into two groups (an EC or control condition). The studies (50 completed studies, representing 12,430 participants) included in the review, had to report abstinence from cigarettes at six months or longer and/or data on adverse events (AEs) or other markers of safety at one week or longer.
In line with previous findings, the researchers concluded that EC’s lead to more successful quit attempts. “There is moderate‐certainty evidence that ECs with nicotine increase quit rates compared to ECs without nicotine and compared to NRT. Evidence comparing nicotine EC with usual care/no treatment also suggests benefit, but is less certain.”
