Ecigarettes helping people quit smoking
WELLINGTON: Researchers have found an increasing number of smokers are using ecigarettes to try to quit.
The study by the University of Otago’s Wellington campus shows greater awareness and use of ecigarettes among smokers and those who recently quit.
Almost a quarter of daily ecigarette users had recently quit smoking and the vast majority said they used the products to quit or cut down on smoking.
Study principal investigator Richard Edwards said ecigarette use was most common among those aged 1824 and among those who had recently quit smoking.
The research was part of the New Zealand arm of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation project and involved surveys with 1155 people between 2016 and 2017 and 1020 people in 2018 — 400 of them Maori — who smoked or had recently quit smoking.
Participants came from the New Zealand Health Survey and were asked about their awareness and use of ecigarettes, reasons for use and related beliefs.
The 2018 survey showed a high awareness of vaping devices, with 98% of smokers and recent quitters saying they were aware of ecigarettes — 77% reported trying vaping, while 22% used ecigarettes at least monthly and 11% daily.
Use was similar between Maori and nonMaori participants, Prof Edwards said.
Daily use was greatest among recent quitters (23%) compared with current smokers (8%) and among 1824 year olds (19%) compared with older age groups (10%).
The most common reasons given for using ecigarettes were to help quit (78%) or cut down on smoking (81%).
‘‘This suggests ecigarettes are contributing to reducing smoking prevalence and to achieving the goal of Aotearoa becoming smokefree by 2025,’’ Prof Edwards said.
‘‘However, it is of concern that ecigarette use is more prevalent among 18 to 24yearolds.
‘‘If ecigarettes are to make a substantial contribution to reducing smoking, their use needs to be greater among older age groups.’’
While the research shows more people are using ecigarettes to quit smoking, more smokers reported using ecigarettes on a trial basis, rather than regularly, which suggested there might be barriers to more sustained use, he said.
‘‘The most common potential barriers identified were that 68% of participants thought vaping was less satisfying than smoking and 39% incorrectly believed that ecigarettes were as or more harmful than smoking cigarettes, or were unsure (15%).’’
The most common motivation for using ecigarettes was to save money compared to smoking, suggesting high cigarette taxes relative to vaping might motivate more smokers to quit.
There was growing evidence ecigarettes may be a net positive by helping smokers quit, but caution had to be exercised to ensure younger people did not take up vaping, he said.
Prof Edwards urged the Government to introduce a comprehensive plan on how New Zealand can become smokefree by 2025, because while vaping might help, it would not be nearly enough.
‘‘We need to do a whole load of other things and we need the Government to step up and put in place other policies to regulate smoked tobacco products, for example making them less widely available or reducing the nicotine in those products, so that we can get rid of smoking for good.’’