Smoking cessation or initiation: The paradox of vaping

Abstract

Highlights The number of people vaping, especially adolescents, has surged in recent years. Studies of vaping as a smoking cessation tool have been largely inconclusive. Studies have produced compelling evidence linking vaping to smoking initiation . Early vaping studies have revealed numerous detrimental effects on the body.

Prevalence, Knowledge, and Attitudes among Health Professions Students toward the Use of Electronic Cigarettes

“…In fact, substantial evidence from several studies has shown that smoking e-cigarettes is linked to subsequent conventional cigarette initiation. A study has shown that the likelihood to be a conventional cigarette user is five times more among current e-cigarette smokers [ 32 ].…”

Knowledge and attitude of adolescents regarding e-cigarettes: A scoping review

“…More evidence suggests that e-cigarette use is linked to smoking addiction, especially in adolescents. 54 Supporters of e-cigarettes believe that their devices replace high-risk behaviour, such as smoking traditional cigarettes, with a far less harmful one. In contrast, the opponents of e-cigarettes focus on the risks to adolescents.…”

E-cigarettes in the Middle East: The known, unknown, and what needs to be known next

“…There is mixed evidence on the effectiveness of e-cigarette use for smoking cessation. Studies that show some effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool tend to examine smokers with high nicotine dependence ( Al-Hamdani & Manly, 2021 ). The potential benefits of e-cigarette use for quitting smoking have to be balanced with the potential for smoking initiation.…”

“…The odds of smoking initiation are 3.25 times higher for e-cigarette users vs non-e-cigarette users, and odds of relapse are 2.87 times higher among former smokers who are e-cigarette users vs non-e-cigarette users ( Baenziger et al, 2021 ). Further, the risks associated with e-cigarette use and smoking initiation among youth cannot be overlooked ( Al-Hamdani & Manly, 2021 ). The fact that less than one-third of ex-smokers or current smokers who used e-cigarettes did so for smoking cessation and that more than half of adolescent e-cigarette users have no history of smoking cigarettes suggests a net disadvantage of e-cigarette use ( Fulton et al, 2018 , Health Canada, 2015 ).…”