Home > Incidence of cigarette smoking relapse among individuals who switched to e-cigarettes or other tobacco products.

Pierce, John P and Chen, Ruifeng and Kealey, Sheila and Leas, Eric C and White, Martha M and Stone, Matthew D and McMenamin, Sara B and Trinidad, Dennis R and Strong, David R and Benmarhnia, Tarik and Messer, Karen (2021) Incidence of cigarette smoking relapse among individuals who switched to e-cigarettes or other tobacco products. JAMA Network Open, 4, (10), e2128810. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.28810.

External website: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/f...

Importance: Although e-cigarettes are not approved as a cessation device, many who smoke believe that e-cigarettes will help them quit cigarette smoking successfully.

Objective: To assess whether people who recently quit smoking and who had switched to e-cigarettes or another tobacco product were less likely to relapse to cigarette smoking compared with those who remained tobacco free.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study analyzed a nationally representative sample of US households that participated in 4 waves of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study (conducted 2013 through 2017), combining 2 independent cohorts each with 3 annual surveys. Eligible participants were individuals who smoked at baseline, had recently quit at the first follow-up, and completed the second follow-up survey.

Exposures: Use of e-cigarettes or alternate tobacco products at follow-up 1 after recently quitting smoking.

Main Outcomes and Measures: Weighted percentage of participants with over 12 months abstinence by follow-up 2.

Results: Of a total of 13 604 participants who smoked cigarettes at baseline, 9.4% (95% CI, 8.7%-10.0%) recently had quit smoking (mean age, 41.9; 95% CI, 39.7-46.6 years; 641 [43.2%] women) Of these, 22.8% (95% CI, 19.7%-26.0%) had switched to e-cigarettes, with 17.6% (95% CI, 14.8%-20.5%) using them daily. A total of 37.1% (95% CI, 33.7%-40.4%) used a noncigarette tobacco product and 62.9% (95% CI, 59.6%-66.3%) were tobacco free. Rates of switching to e-cigarettes were highest for those who were in the top tertile of tobacco dependence (31.3%; 95% CI, 25.0%-37.7%), were non-Hispanic White (26.4%; 95% CI, 22.3%-30.4%), and had higher incomes (annual income ≥$35 000, 27.5%; 95% CI, 22.5%-32.4% vs <$35 000, 19.3%; 95% CI, 16.3%-22.3%). At follow-up 2, unadjusted relapse rates were similar among those who switched to different tobacco products (for any tobacco product: successfully quit, 41.5%; 95% CI, 36.2%-46.9%; relapsed with significant requit, 17.0%; 95% CI, 12.4%-21.6%; currently smoking, 36.2%; 95% CI, 30.9%-41.4%). Controlled for potential confounders, switching to any tobacco product was associated with higher relapse rate than being tobacco free (adjusted risk difference, 8.5%; 95% CI, 0.3%-16.6%). Estimates for those who switched to e-cigarettes, whether daily or not, were not significant. While individuals who switched from cigarettes to e-cigarettes were more likely to relapse, they appeared more likely to requit and be abstinent for 3 months at follow-up 2 (17.0%; 95% CI, 12.4%-21.6% vs 10.4%; 95% CI, 8.0%-12.9%).

Conclusions and Relevance: This large US nationally representative study does not support the hypothesis that switching to e-cigarettes will prevent relapse to cigarette smoking.


Item Type
Article
Publication Type
International, Open Access, Article
Drug Type
Tobacco / Nicotine
Intervention Type
Treatment method, Harm reduction, Rehabilitation/Recovery
Date
1 October 2021
Identification #
doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.28810
Page Range
e2128810
Volume
4
Number
10
EndNote
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