Vaping might help smokers butt out, but it could also encourage non-smokers to light up, two new conflicting studies reveal.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat a nicotine-containing liquid to create a mist to be inhaled by the user — a process known as vaping.
There has been controversy among health experts around their harmfulness and effectiveness as a tool for quitting smoking.
A study of high school students published in the Journal American Medical Association (JAMA) shows those who have tried e-cigarettes are more likely to also try traditional cigarettes.
The research following more than 2,500 US students over a six-month period found 31 per cent of e-cigarette users tried other forms of tobacco, compared to 8 per cent of non-vapers.
But University of London psychology professor Peter Hajek said the findings did not show vaping led to smoking, but rather that people who were attracted to e-cigarettes were the same people who were attracted to smoking.
University of Sydney professor of Public Health Simon Chapman said that was a “plausible” response used by critics, but not necessarily the case.
“Critics of studies [like that] say that it’s simply because the ones who smoke e-cigarettes are the ones who are risk-takers,” he told the ABC.
“So they are the same kind of kids who would also drink under age or partake in sex at an early age.
“That’s a plausible response, except … it’s likely there are going to be quite a few people within those kids who took up vaping who may have never taken up cigarettes otherwise.”
He said that was because once they “got a taste for nicotine” and had broken down the barriers of the public performance of smoking or blowing vapour, they became more interested.
E-cigarettes have also been promoted as being far less dangerous than cigarettes, he said.
Researchers from Public Health England conducted a separate study finding e-cigarettes were 95 per cent less harmful than tobacco and should be promoted as a tool to help smokers quit.
The experts also said there was no evidence e-cigarettes were a gateway into smoking for children or non-smokers, contradicting the JAMA study’s findings.
Almost all of the 2.6 million adults using e-cigarettes in Britain are current or ex-smokers who use the devices to help them quit and only 2 per cent of young people are regular users, the British study claims.
To vape or not to vape?
Earlier this year, the Department of Addictions in the UK published research showing of about 1,500 smokers, those who did not use e-cigarettes were more likely to stop smoking after 12 months than those who did.
It showed 13.9 per cent of non-vapers quit, compared with 9.5 per cent of occasional vapers and 8.1 per cent of daily vapers.
Professor Chapman said that particular study showed the hype around e-cigarettes being an effective quitting tool was not backed up by evidence.
“It doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence,” he said.
“Smoking rates in Australia are the lowest in the world … none of the countries with low-smoking prevalence have very many people vaping.”
‘Vaping’ implies that it’s harmless and it’s trendy.
AMA’s Dr Brian Morton
As a method to quit smoking, professor Chapman said e-cigarettes could be considered a last resort.
“For people who really have a lot of difficulty trying to quit … they ought to give it some consideration.”
As to why the JAMA and Public Health England studies conflict, he said it could be because “different things could be happening in different countries”.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) chairman of the council of general practice, Dr Brian Morton, told the ABC e-cigarettes were not a quitting tool.
“The evidence is not there to support that,” Dr Morton said.
“Here you have two opposing studies in terms of conclusions drawn so that should put doubt in everyone’s mind.”
Australia leading the way in lowering smoking
Dr Morton said Australia had made “enormous” headway at lowering smoking rates and to continue that officials must consider people who use e-cigarettes “are more likely to be smoking 12 months down the track”.
He said terms like “vaping” could be dangerous to enticing youth into taking up the practice.
“Vaping implies that it’s harmless and it’s trendy.
“We should be very wary of catchphrases that appeal to youth who don’t necessarily have the wisdom or experience to see through it.”
It is legal to possess nicotine juice for e-cigarettes but the distribution and sale of the nicotine juice is illegal.
The Department of Health website states: “The Australian Government is concerned about the use of electronic cigarettes in Australia. The impact of wide-scale use of these devices on tobacco use is not known, and the outcome in the community could be harmful.”
ABC/Wires