More than half of adults in the U.S who successfully quit smoking used vapes or other nicotine products to kick the deadly habit, a new study has found.
The research, preprinted in science journal BMJ Yale, shows that 2.9 million U.S. adults stopped smoking for six months or longer from 2021 through 2022.
In the same period, 13.1 million tried to stop but went back to smoking.
Among those who successfully quit, 53.9 per cent (1.5 million U.S adults) said they primarily used vapes alone or in combination with other methods.
The least commonly reported quitting methods used were non-nicotine, non-prescription drug methods (including a quit line, counselling or clinic, class, or group). This equated to just 6.3 per cent or 0.2 million US adults.
Vapes most popular exclusive quitting method
The most commonly reported exclusive method selected was vapes at 26 per cent (0.7 million US adults). Other nicotine-based methods cited include nicotine patches, gum and nasal spray.
The report, which had not yet been peer reviewed, found that slightly more men stopped smoking than women (1.6 million vs 1.3 million); most were white adults, aged younger than 55 years and identified as straight.
It says its results support evidence that noncombustible nicotine products such as vapes are “a promising foundation for a comprehensive approach to tobacco harm reduction.”
The study concludes: “Methods containing nicotine, primarily e-cigarettes, were the most commonly-reported methods that were explicitly surveyed.
“This may provide support for [Food and Drug Administration] FDA’s “nicotine-focused framework for public health”, which describes noncombustible nicotine products as “a promising foundation for a comprehensive approach to tobacco harm reduction,” FDA’s efforts to authorise certain e-cigarette products as “appropriate for the protection of public health,” and CDC’s statement that “[e]-cigarettes have the potential to benefit adults who smoke … if used as a complete substitute for regular cigarettes,” while necessarily preventing access to nicotine products by nonsmoking subpopulations, such as adolescents.
It adds: “In conclusion, efforts to reduce smoking among US adults should focus on the subpopulations that stopped smoking the least and encourage use of evidence-based methods.”
The study used nationally representative Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey data to identify which subpopulations of US adults had stopped smoking cigarettes for six months or longer in the previous year and the methods they used.
