E-cigarette users less likely to quit smoking

Study shows more nicotine-dependence among vaping cancer patients.

NEW YORK: The current trend of using e-cigarettes as an alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes may do more harm than good. According to recent research, cancer patients using e-cigarettes, in addition to traditional cigarettes, are equally or less likely to quit smoking traditional cigarettes than non-users.

Findings of the study, which was published online in Cancer, the journal of the American Cancer Society, further showed that cancer patients using e-cigarettes are more nicotine-dependent. “Consistent with recent observations of increased e-cigarette use in the general population, our findings illustrate that e-cigarette use among tobacco-dependent cancer patients has increased within the past two years,” said co-researcher Jamie Ostroff from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the United States.

To examine available clinical data about e-cigarette use and cessation among cancer patients, the researchers studied 1,074 cancer patients who smoked, and were enrolled between 2012 and 2013 in a tobacco treatment programme within a comprehensive cancer centre in the US. Researchers observed a three-fold increase in e-cigarette use from 2012 to 2013.

At enrolment stage, e-cigarette users were more nicotine-dependent than non-users, had more prior quit attempts, and were more likely to be diagnosed with lung or head and neck cancers. At the follow-up stage, e-cigarette users were just as likely to be smoking as non-users. Seven-day abstinence rates were 44.4 per cent versus 43.1 per cent for e-cigarette users and non-users, respectively. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2014.

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