Does Vaping Help Smokers Quit?
Well I would imagine most of us reading this will say wholeheartedly “Yes!”
But it is nice to have a bit of science to back up our statements.
A new paper on the Science Direct website titled – “Differences in cigarette smoking quit attempts and cessation between adults who did and did not take up nicotine vaping : Findings from the ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Surveys“.
The ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Surveys included 3516 respondents from Australia, Canada, England and USA. The initial survey was in 2016 and was followed up in 2018 and 2020.
The conclusion states…
“Daily NVP (Nicotine Vaping Product) use was associated with increased attempts to quit smoking and abstinence from smoking cigarettes. These findings are consistent with the concept that complete cigarette substitution may be more likely to be achieved when smokers vape nicotine daily.”
Vaping Statistics of 14 Countries
An article on the eclinicalMedicine website (part of The Lancet Discovery Science) studies the numbers of adults vaping in 14 different countries.
The results as you can imagine did vary according to country and some countries have a stricter policy regarding vaping.
But as you can see below the statistics of vapers aged over 15 between 2015-2018 show that Romania and Russia seem to be ahead in the number of vapers.
🗣️NEW Research: #Ecigarette use among adults in 14 countries. According to data from the Global Adult #Tobacco Survey approximately 18.3 million adults used e-cigarettes across the 14 countries @CDCgov @CDCTobaccoFree
Read here: https://t.co/Y3D2NN8aTC pic.twitter.com/UfAHIeewbm
— eClinicalMedicine – The Lancet Discovery Science (@eClinicalMed) April 28, 2022
The article then goes deeper into analysing the demographics of the vapers so if you want a good read sit down and visit the link here – Electronic cigarette use among adults in 14 countries – a cross-sectional study.
PATH To Understanding…
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) have made a load of data accessible here at the “Path Study” webpage.
The PATH (Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health) study results have been made public in an effort to allow other researchers and scientists to use the results in their own studies.
Also included are descriptions of the methods used.
New Vapers Want Advice!
The UKVIA (UK Vaping Industry Association) conducted a survey during Vapril and the findings have been published on their website.
The surveys show that new vapers in particular really value guidance from the vape vendors on what type of device / liquid to choose. Also advice from friends, family and other vapers helped them on their way.
It shows in general that Vape Stores were the main and best source of advice for new vapers, whereas supermarkets and convenience stores were not very helpful at all.
57.4% of current vapers said the initial advice they got when they started vaping was instrumental in helping them quit smoking.
It seems there is a need for more help and education for new vapers and a gap in this knowledge when vape equipment is sold in non specialist stores.
John Dunne the director general of UKVIA said…
“With significant numbers of current vapers indicating that advice was critical to them quitting their habits and vaping now acknowledged widely as being a major contributor to the government’s smokefree targets, convenience outlets and the multiples could gain more loyal vape customers and market share if they invested in developing the knowledge of their staff about the vape products that they sell. This will help smokers make informed decisions about the type of vape devices, nicotine content and flavours that would give them the best chance of a successful quit.”
There are 2 articles on the UKVIA website where you can read more of the findings…
- First time vapers value specialist advice in helping them quit conventional cigarettes.
- Convenience stores and supermarkets not providing the advice that smokers need to quit through vaping – study reveals.
Keep Encouraging!
An article on the “Guidelines in Practice” website written by the great vape advocate Louise Ross (Granny Louisa on Twitter) discusses the NG09 NICE guidelines on tobacco dependency.
The article is titled “Never give up encouraging patients to give up smoking” and looks at the updated guidelines for stop smoking services which also included the use of vaping products.
We are so lucky that our health authorities are embracing Vaping as a form of harm reduction but sadly there has been a reduction in local Stop Smoking services.
To help counteract that is it recommended that health care professionals should be trained in the VBA (Very Brief Advice) intervention to help start the conversation on quitting smoking with those who need it.
This conversation can then occur in any setting and only takes 30 seconds and could reach people who are either not aware of local Stop Smoking services or to help those who are unable to receive this service.
Also during this conversation patients might discover different ways of quitting that they have not considered before – especially vaping. A lot of people still mistakenly believe that vaping is harmful so having a conversation with a health specialist may correct those beliefs and open them up to trying.
Let’s Talk E-cigarettes
The April edition of the University of Oxford and Cancer Research UK podcast is available here “April 2022 with Assistant Professor Alex Liber“.
In this podcast they discuss plenty of topics including global tobacco control policy, flavour bans and also cover any new vaping literature up to 1st April 2022 they have discovered.
Why Fight The Wrong War?
The wonderful vape advocate Clive Bates has written an article for the Tobacco Reporter website – “Fighting the Wrong War“.
Clive is the former director of ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) and now runs the Counterfactual Consulting company and works a lot on the public health strategy of tobacco harm reduction. He is a real “voice of the vapers”!
The article discusses how anything “Big tobacco” related is dismissed and by doing this – some important science may be discarded.
He says that treating the tobacco companies as an enemy is preventing their studies from being taken seriously.
He cites some instances where companies with links to big tobacco have had products or actions stopped. In turn this prevented important projects going ahead.
The Tobacco companies know their days are numbered and generally want to move into non-combustible tobacco markets. It is true that in the past there was some dodgy manipulation and hiding of data but nowadays all science must be credible.
I personally think we should embrace any efforts these tobacco giants make to ditch combustible cigarettes and I think the amount of money and clout they can bring to the vaping industry could be beneficial.
But of course as always – every study should be analysed on its own strengths and weaknesses as there is always a lot of garbage science knocking about. Non tobacco and tobacco companies have been involved in good and bad science!
Unfortunate Vape Name Of The Week
Yes we have all chuckled at “Voopoo” and I am such a child.
So I have just seen an advert for a disposables company.
Yes you read that right – “Vaporlax” – does it make you go to the toilet?
I keep thinking of that horrible advert where the woman has the handbag full of food!
Unfortunate Vape Name Of The Week – Part 2
Yes Wotofo are in the frame here for their new disposable range…
Yeah – great name that…
Well I hope you enjoyed this week’s Vape News – I will be back with another dollop of it next week!
