It is true that till now, there had been no major scientific results bringing evidence of the usefulness of e-cigarettes in stop smoking programs. But a recent study led by California University searchers and published in the British Medical Journal* has shown that there is a clear correlation between e-cigarette use and smoking cessation.

This team of searchers relied on 5 different studies conducted between 2001 and 2015 in America. Their goal was to determine if the development of e-cigarette went hand in hand with a decrease of tobacco use. For the searchers, the conclusions are crystal clear. The increase of e-cigarette use in the US and the decrease of tobacco use are clearly linked. 

Indeed, the study has concluded that people using e-cigarettes are more likely to try quitting (65%) compared with those who only smoke tobacco products (40%). Moreover, the general quit rate increased by a significant 1.1% in link with an increase of the number of vapers. The smoking cessation rate thus went from 4.5% in 2010-2011 to 5.6% in 2014-2015, which represents 350 000 additional people.

While the scientific community is still quite divided on the use of e-cigarette as nicotine cessation device, this study clearly confirms the link between the increase of e-cig use and the decrease of tobacco use. But other actions also impacted the decrease of tobacco use during the same period: national prevention campaigns took place in the US and contributed to the reduction. However, for the searcher who led the study, Shu-Hong Zhu, there is no doubt that « this analysis presents a strong case that e-cigarette use also played an important role« .

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Source

* « E-cigarette use and associated changes in population smoking cessation: evidence from US current population surveys », Shu-Hong Zhu, Yue-Lin Zhuang, Shiushing Wong, Sharon E Cummins, Gary J Tedeschi