Cigarette smokers report using e-cigarettes to reduce or quit smoking but findings are mixed regarding the benefit and risk of e-cigarettes in this population, and effects of gender are unknown.
The Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH; waves 1 & 2; adult interviews) was used to evaluate relationships among wave 1 e-cigarette use (daily, non-daily, never) and gender and their association with transitions (quit vs. current; relapse vs. former) in cigarette smoking status across waves 1 and 2 of the PATH study.
Daily e-cigarette users had higher odds of quitting smoking (OR=1.56, 95% CI=1.12, 2.18) compared to never e-cigarette users. Conversely, daily and non-daily e-cigarette users were at greater risk of smoking relapse (OR=1.84, 95% CI=1.15, 2.94 and OR=1.85, 95% CI=0.99, 3.46 respectively) compared to never e-cigarette users. Women were less likely to quit smoking compared to men independent of e-cigarette use (OR=0.76, 95% CI=0.59, 0.99). In stratified analyses, daily or non-daily e-cigarette use did not increase the likelihood of quitting or relapse in women. In men, daily and non-daily e-cigarette users were at greater risk of smoking relapse (OR=2.96, 95% CI=1.49, 5.86 and OR=3.05, 95% CI=1.29, 7.17, respectively) compared to men who were never e-cigarette users.
Findings identify e-cigarettes as a potential aid for smoking cessation, but also as a potential risk for smoking relapse in men only. Overall, women were less likely to quit smoking, and e-cigarette use did not impact their ability to quit or to stay quit.
Cigarette smokers report using e-cigarettes to reduce or quit smoking but findings are mixed regarding the benefit and risk of e-cigarettes in this population. Using data from the newly available Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH; waves 1 & 2; adult interviews), our findings identify e-cigarettes as a potential aid for smoking cessation, but also identify e-cigarettes as a potential risk for smoking relapse in men only. These findings may have implications for the regulation of e-cigarettes by the FDA and the benefit-cost ratio of e-cigarette use in smokers.