Vapers ‘likely to help smokers quit’

Smokers who regularly spend time with vapers are more likely to attempt to quit, new research suggests.

A study by University College London (UCL) found that smokers who have frequently spent time with vapers, who smoke e-cigarettes, were around 20 per cent more likely to have made a recent attempt to quit, and reported feeling motivated to stop smoking.

Roughly a quarter of smokers (25.8 per cent) who participated in the study said they regularly spent time with vapers and, of these, around a third (32.3 per cent) had made an attempt to quit smoking in the previous year.

By comparison, around a quarter (26.8 per cent) of smokers who did not regularly spend time with vapers attempted to quit in the previous year.

Dr Sarah Jackson, the study’s lead author, said its findings should ease concerns about vaping.

She added: “It is becoming increasingly more commonplace for smokers to come into contact with vapers and some concerns have been raised that this could re-normalise smoking and undermine smokers’ motivation to quit.”