Study Links Vaping To Success
Ecigs work as a quit tool, say researchers at the University of California.
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by Dave Cross
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Zhu is in charge of the California Smokers’ Helpline and is a psychologist at the University of California San Diego’s school of medicine. The university and the school of medicine have been linked strongly to a litany of outrageous claims and attacks on vaping over the last few years. Finally, with this study, they are repeating something that has become accepted fact in many other parts of the world: vaping works as a quit tool for many smokers.
The British Medical Journal published the research paper that covered the team looking at data from a national survey and large population based study between 2001 and 2015.
65% of smokers who used ecigarettes attempted to quit smoking
Nicotine, one of the most addictive and widely used drugs in the world, makes quitting smoking feel almost impossible for many heavy smokers. Anecdotally, vapers attested to having experienced success through using vaping products but the likes of the University of California’s Stanton Glantz refused to accept it as fact.
The American Association for Science and Health (ACSH) highlighted: “When compared to earlier surveys, both the rate of quit attempts as well as the annual cessation rate was greater for people who used e-cigs than for those who didn’t.”
40% of the traditional smokers attempted to quit without vape products
Zhu himself has admitted that smokers switching to vaping were more likely to progress on to full quit attempts. Moreover, those attempting to quit by using vape products were more likely to succeed in their aim. This isn’t the pro-vape ACSH’s interpretation of the findings – this is the academic in charge of the study who works at the University of California.
8.2% succeeded using vaping as a substitute
Peter Hajek said: “It's absolutely clear that e-cigarettes help smokers replace cigarettes,” as he argued that vaping should be less harshly regulated. “That way, smokers can get what they want without killing themselves.”
The paper highlights: “Our study supports a report from England where e-cigarette use was found to be associated with a higher success rate of quit attempts. More importantly, we found that e-cigarette use was also associated with a higher quit attempt rate, which eventually translates into a higher overall population cessation rate.”
4.8% succeeded without vape products
The team concluded: “This study, based on the largest representative sample of e-cigarette users to date, provides a strong case that e-cigarette use was associated with an increase in smoking cessation at the population level - these findings need to be weighed carefully in regulatory policy making and in the planning of tobacco control interventions.”
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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