Paris (AFP)
Smokers who use e-cigarettes tend to reduce their smoking and more quit smoking than other smokers, but the vape is also associated with a greater likelihood of relapse, a study released on Monday concludes.
Since the rise of the e-cigarette in the late 2000s, many studies seek to determine whether it is an effective aid or not to stop smoking.
In an attempt to answer this question, the team of Ramchandar Gomajee, a researcher at Inserm and Paris-Sorbonne University, followed for nearly two years 5,400 daily smokers and 2,025 former smokers belonging to the Constances cohort, vast French public health survey that follows 200,000 volunteers aged 18 to 69 years.
As a result, at the end of the observed period, smokers-vapers smoked an average of 4.4 fewer cigarettes per day, whereas smokers who did not use the electronic cigarette had reduced their daily consumption by only 2.7 cigarettes. , according to their findings, published in the American journal Jama Internal Medicine.
On the other hand, vape users were 67% more likely to have tried to quit smoking at least once. Those who had been using this device for more than a year were twice as likely to have stopped smoking.
On the other hand, "among former smokers, the use of the electronic cigarette is associated with a higher probability of starting to smoke again".
Of the 2,025 "former smokers" at the start of the study, those who used e-cigarettes on a regular basis were 70% more likely to quit than other ex-smokers.
The authors of the article acknowledge that their research has some weaknesses. Thus, they did not have information on the motivation of users of e-cigarettes. It is therefore impossible to say that they use it with the intention of reducing or stopping the cigarette, even if other works have shown that this is generally the case.
While this study does not support the conclusion that vaping is effective in stopping smoking, it states that e-cigarettes can "help people reduce their smoking and start a smoking cessation," they say. highlighting the large number of participants and the duration of the follow-up.
According to the figures of Public Health France, 3.8% of French people used the electronic cigarette daily in 2018. This device is now chosen by more than a quarter of smokers (27%) as an aid to stopping smoking, in front of nicotine substitutes (patches, erasers, etc. / 18%), more than half tempting them to stop without any help.
© 2019 AFP