“Dual users”
Over time, most of these “dual users” tend to return to their regular cigarette smoking, according to this study published in the journal ERJ Open Research. The authors reviewed existing research on e-cigarette and traditional cigarette users and combined the results.
After 4 to 8 months, among people practicing dual consumption, only 3% managed to do without nicotine products, compared to 8% of exclusive vapers and 6% of traditional cigarette smokers. After 8 to 16 months, only 5% of dual users go without nicotine, compared to 7% of traditional cigarette smokers and 19% of vapers.
These abstinence levels are respectively, after 16 to 24 months, 13% for dual users, compared to 17% for smokers of classic cigarettes and 26% of exclusive vapers.
“Worrying results”
In addition, according to the study, “most of those who combined vaping and classic cigarettes returned to exclusive smoking, with a regular increase: 30% after 4 to 8 months, then 47% after 8 to 16 months and finally 58% after 16 to 24 months.
“Widely marketed as healthier alternatives to traditional smoking, e-cigarettes have gained popularity among people trying to quit smoking,” observes Josef Hamoud, research assistant at Göttingen University Medical Center in Germany and editor of the study.
But some use them while continuing to smoke classic cigarettes, while studies have provided “worrying results” on this dual use, summarizes Josef Hamoud, recalling that in addition, we “still do not know a lot about the effects of long term of vaping on health”.
Health
