E-cigarette use in young Swiss men: is vaping an effective way of reducing or quitting smoking?

• Published in: Swiss medical weekly 2016, Vol.146 (102), p.w14271-w14271
• Main Authors: Gmel, Gerhard, Baggio, Stéphanie, Mohler-Kuo, Meichun, Daeppen, Jean-Bernard, Studer, Joseph
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: E-cigarette; Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems - statistics & numerical data; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Odds Ratio; quit attempts; Smoking - epidemiology; smoking cessation; Smoking Cessation - statistics & numerical data; Switzerland; Switzerland - epidemiology; Tobacco Use Disorder - epidemiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1424-7860; 1424-3997
• DOI: 10.4414/smw.2016.14271

To test longitudinally differences in conventional cigarette use (cigarettes smoked, cessation, quit attempts) between vapers and nonvapers. Fifteen months follow-up of a sample of 5 128 20-year-old Swiss men. The onset of conventional cigarette (CC) use among nonsmokers, and smoking cessation, quit attempts, changes in the number of CCs smoked among smokers at baseline were compared between vapers and nonvapers at follow-up, adjusted for nicotine dependence. Among baseline nonsmokers, vapers were more likely to start smoking at follow-up than nonvapers (odds ratio [OR] 6.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.81, 12.88 for becoming occasional smokers, and OR = 12.69, 95% CI 4.00, 40.28 for becoming daily smokers). Vapers reported lower smoking cessation rates among occasional smokers at baseline (OR = 0.43 (0.19, 0.96); daily smokers: OR = 0.42 [0.15, 1.18]). Vapers compared with nonvapers were heavier CC users (62.53 vs 18.10 cigarettes per week, p