More than 60 percent of electronic cigarette users say they want to quit, according to new research.
About 10 million adults in the US smoke e-cigarettes and most of them also smoke traditional cigarettes. Many users say they smoke e-cigarettes as a way to quit traditional ones.
The study also shows 16 percent of e-cigarette users plan to quit in the next month. More than 25 percent say they have tried to quit using e-cigarettes in the past year.
The study, which appears in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, is the first to examine e-cigarette users’ past attempts and current intentions to quit in a representative sample of adult e-cigarette users in the United States.
“Most of the discussion about e-cigarettes has focused on the relative harm as compared to traditional cigarettes, the efficacy of e-cigarettes as a cessation device, and the alarming increase of their use in children,” says coauthor Marc Steinberg, an associate professor of psychiatry at Rutgers University’s Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the director of the school’s Tobacco Research and Intervention lab. “In addition to those issues, our data suggests that e-cigarette users do not want to use these devices forever. Eventually, they want to stop using e-cigarettes the same way a traditional smoker wants to quit smoking cigarettes.”
“The strategies that people reported using to quit e-cigarettes include many of the strategies we recommend for quitting traditional cigarettes such as FDA-approved nicotine replacement products or medications, counseling, and social support,” says author Rachel Rosen, a graduate student in the psychology department.
“While e-cigarettes may be associated with reduced harm as compared to combustible cigarettes, they also are potentially addicting and the e-cigarette aerosol still contains toxic substances,” she says.
“As e-cigarette use continues to increase and as more e-cigarette users want to quit, it will be important to be ready to help those who may have difficulty stopping on their own.”
Source: Rutgers University
