They would be young and their number would have exploded since the arrival of puffs on the market. But this is not the only explanation.
A complicated subject
This is a sensitive subject for defenders of electronic cigarettes. Although numerous studies have shown that vaping currently represents the best way to quit smoking, it would be a lie to say that it is exclusively used by smokers. Since its arrival on the market, the electronic cigarette has attracted cigarette consumers around the world, but also a small part of the population who had never smoked in the past. A few days ago, a team of British researchers looked at the evolution of the number of vapers who have never smoked regularly in the past, between the years 2016 and 2024.
For their study1the authors relied on a survey carried out monthly in the United Kingdom. Each month, this surveys randomly selected households throughout the country about their smoking habits. Since the creation of this survey in 2006, various research has been carried out on it and has demonstrated that its results make it possible to obtain representative estimates on a national scale.
Puffs, the biggest culprits?
In total, the scientists used data from 153,073 people, of whom 94,107 (61.5%) were not considered regular smokers, that is to say having smoked for at least a year.
According to their analyses, the number of vapers who have never been regular smokers remained stable between 2016 and 2020, standing at around 0.5%. On the other hand, from 2021, this figure would have increased to 3.5% in April 2024. In the United Kingdom, this year there will be around 1 million adults who vape at least once a day, without ever having smoked regularly. Among these new vapers without a smoking history, 18-24 year olds would be in the majority, followed by those under 35. The number of non-smoking vapers among older age groups appears to have remained stable.
Those under 35 occupy the largest share of new vapers without a regular smoking history. The dotted line marks the arrival of puffs on the market.
The survey data used allowed researchers to paint a portrait of these new non-smoking vapers. In addition to their young age, 50.2% of them use puffs and 48.9% obtain their vaping products in general stores (supermarkets or gas stations for example).
Gentler disposable electronic cigarettes
While in 2021, 1 in 200 non-smokers reported vaping, this figure would have increased to 1 in 28 in April 2024. As the researchers report, the increase in the number of non-smoking vapers in the UK would coincide with the arrival of disposable electronic cigarettes on the market. On the other hand, as they point out, “the increase in vaping rates has [aussi] accelerated among current and former smokers during this period ». In other words, the arrival of puffs on the market would indeed have allowed more smokers to switch to vaping, but would also have attracted certain non-smokers. The other point that scientists note is that among this population of new vapers without a regular smoking history, many of them use e-liquids containing a nicotine level of 20 mg/ml.
For them, this consumption could be explained by the fact that puffs most often contain nicotine salts. Being gentler on the throat than personal vaporizers containing traditional nicotine e-liquids, puffs would allow these non-smokers to better tolerate the hitmaking them products possibly having “greater potential for dependence”.
Vaping, a lesser evil
If this study seems to confirm the arguments of the numerous anti-vaping associations of which puffs have long been the favorite target, the researchers nevertheless temper its results. They note, for example, that a large proportion of new non-smoking vapers tend to consume a lot of alcohol, which “suggests that adoption of vaping may be more common among people with a propensity to engage in risky behavior and who might have started smoking if they hadn’t started vaping instead ».
Scientists also theorize that because vaping is considered less harmful than smoking, it is likely that more and more non-smokers will start vaping in the future, making the choice to move towards e-cigarettes rather than smoking. towards smoking, the harm to health of which is proven.
1 Vaping among adults in England who have never regularly smoked: a population-based study, 2016–24 – Jackson, Sarah E et al. – The Lancet Public Health, Volume 9, Issue 10, e755 – e765 – doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00183-X.
