According to data from the International Tobacco Control survey, consumer confidence in the efficacy of vaping as a smoking cessation tool has declined significantly between 2016 and 2024. The research examined changes in the opinions of adult smokers and recent quitters across four countries.
Researchers analyzed data from five biennial waves (2016–2024) of the International Tobacco Control Four Country (ITC-4C) longitudinal survey. The study was based on online questionnaires conducted in Canada, the United States, England, and Australia, involving adult daily smokers (22,536 participants; 33,624 observations) and recent quitters (7,132 participants; 11,130 observations). The majority of respondents were over 55 years old (12,888 individuals) and had never used e-cigarettes (12,163 individuals).
The results showed that between 2016 and 2024, the proportion of smokers who believed that e-cigarettes make it easier to quit smoking decreased significantly from 43.6% (±1.1%) to 27.1% (±1.2%). In addition to temporal trends, the study also analyzed demographic and behavioral factors, as well as beliefs regarding the harms of vaping.
A limitation of the study is that the data are derived from self-reported online panels, and the available abstract does not detail the precise numerical changes observed among recent quitters.
In Brief
- Based on data from 2016 to 2024, the proportion of those who believe in the role of vaping as an aid for cessation fell from 43.6% to 27.1%.
- The research covered Canada, the United States, England, and Australia, involving more than 29,000 participants.
- The majority of participants were over 55, and a significant portion had never tried e-cigarettes.
Source: PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
This summary was prepared by artificial intelligence based on the original article.