People who vape but continue to use tobacco products are unlikely to give up smoking, according to research published today.
Dr Nandita Krishnan of the George Washington University, USA, and colleagues looked at the habits of such ‘dual users’ over time, to help inform tobacco control policies.
They analysed figures on 545 participants in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study, using a ‘group-based’ model to predict outcomes.
This showed that 76% of dual users smoked cigarettes daily and a 34% vaped daily. In addition, 63% drank alcohol, 25% smoked cannabis, and the belief that vaping is less harmful than smoking was held by 82%.
The most common pattern over time was for dual users to quit vaping but continue to smoke.
This "highlights the need to address cessation of both products," the authors write in Tobacco Control today.
"Continued monitoring of trajectories and their predictors is needed, given ongoing changes to the electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) marketplace," they add.
Previous studies have examined changes over a one to two year period, they explain, but the stability of these transitions was unknown. This new study covers a six year period.
Cigarette use was seen to be more stable than vaping among people who use both. However, "Continued monitoring of trajectories is needed, given changes to the vaping marketplace," the authors believe.
Krishnan, N. et al. Trajectories of ENDS and cigarette use among dual users: analysis of waves 1 to 5 of the PATH Study. Tobacco Control 14 December 2022; doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2022-057405
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