Most people in the U.S. who use e-cigarettes want to give up the habit, and a quarter of them have tried in the past year, new research shows.
Published in April in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, a study found that of the 10 million adults and 3.6 million teenagers in the U.S. currently using e-cigarettes, more than 60% of them want to quit, and 16% plan to quit in the next month.
About 55% of people in the study said they also smoked conventional cigarettes.
Most studies on e-cigarettes have been on their potential harm, the rising number of youth using them and toxicology profiles. The new study, conducted by researchers at Rutgers University, is different in that it examined attempts by e-cigarette users between ages 18 and 34 to quit the habit.
Researchers the data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, an ongoing long-term study created in 2011 by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to monitor tobacco use. The study involves over 45,000 people.
While e-cigarettes have been marketed as a way to help kick the habit of smoking traditional cigarettes, they still have toxins and are potentially addicting, the study said.
The study found that e-cigarette users resort to the same cessation tools and strategies as conventional smokers. Users want to stop using e-cigarettes the same way a traditional smoker wants to quit smoking cigarettes, according to Marc Steinberg, PhD, study co-author and director of Rutgers Tobacco Research and Intervention Lab.
As with cigarette smokers, many e-cigarette users try to quit by using nicotine replacement products or medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as counseling and social services support, according to Rachel Rosen, a Rutgers graduate student and co-author of the study.
Assisting e-cigarette users in quitting may become more of a priority in the future, Rosen said.
“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,” Rosen said in a news release.
Read the full study online.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
