One of the major selling points for e-cigarettes that has caused an explosion in the market has been the claim that they can help even long-time smokers kick the habit for good. However, in a new study conducted by the University of California School of Medicine, San Diego, people who smoke electronic cigarettes are actually less likely to quit smoking.
For the study, researchers looked at the smoking behaviors in 1,000 smokers in California. They found that 49 percent of people who use the e-cigarette are less likely to decrease smoking and 59 percent of people who use e-cigarettes are less likely to quit than those who never used electronic cigarettes before. The study also found that daily smokers and women were more likely to try e-cigarettes.
Wael Al-Delaimy, MD, PhD, professor and chief of the Division of Global Public Health in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, said the study will inform the United States Food and Drug Administration or FDA and other regulatory bodies about the use of e-cigarettes as they create guidelines for the tobacco products. Recently, e-cigarettes have become popular but could have dangerous effects, and is attracting people to use the e-cigarette that have never used conventional cigarettes.
"Based on the idea that smokers use e-cigarettes to quit smoking, we hypothesized that smokers who used these products would be more successful in quitting. But the research revealed the contrary", Al-Delaimy says.
Ron Chapman, MD, MPH, Department of Health (CDPH) Director and the official state of public health in California, said there is a lot of misinformation about the e-cigarette and being a state health officer, who was asking the population California to avoid e-cigarette and keep it out of reach of children of all ages.
Dr. Wael says that "One hypothesis is that smokers are receiving increasing doses of nicotine by using electronic cigarettes."
"These results confirm the potential harm e-cigarettes cause smokers, in that they may not only result in continued smoking but they may also discourage or delay quit attempts," said Patricia Folan, director of the Center for Tobacco Control at the North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, N.Y.
Nicotine is an addictive drug that has been linked to premature deaths and can cause a wide variety of health problems including cancers, respiratory disease, hypertension and abdominal diseases. Currently, it is the second leading cause of death all around the globe. Every year more than 440,000 Americans die due to smoking related illnesses.
This latest study on e-cigarettes and their effects can be found in the American Journal of Public Health.
