E-Cigarette Awareness and Perceived Harmfulness: Prevalence and Associations with Smoking-Cessation Outcomes

• Published in: American journal of preventive medicine 2014-08, Vol.47 (2), p.141-149
• Main Authors: TAN, Andy S. L, BIGMAN, Cabral A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Cessation; Data Collection; Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems - adverse effects; Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems - psychology; Female; Health information; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Hispanic people; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Prevalence; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Smoker-Nonsmoker interactions; Smoking; Smoking Cessation - methods; Smoking Cessation - statistics & numerical data; Smoking Prevention; Tobacco, tobacco smoking; Toxicology; United States; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0749-3797; 1873-2607
• DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2014.02.011

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are increasingly advertised as replacements for regular cigarettes or cessation aids for smokers. To describe the prevalence and correlates of e-cigarette awareness and perceived harmfulness among U.S. adults and analyze whether these variables are associated with smokers' past-year quit attempts and intention to quit. Data were obtained from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 4 Cycle 2), conducted from October 2012 to January 2013. Data analyses were performed from June to August 2013. Overall, 77% of respondents were aware of e-cigarettes. Of these, 51% believed e-cigarettes were less harmful than cigarettes. Younger, white (compared with Hispanic), more educated respondents and current or former smokers (compared with non-smokers) were more likely to be aware of e-cigarettes. Among those who were aware of e-cigarettes, younger; men (compared with women); white (compared with African-American); more educated respondents; and current smokers (compared with former and non-smokers) were more likely to believe that e-cigarettes were less harmful. [corrected]. Overall e-cigarette awareness increased whereas the proportion of smokers who perceived less harm of e-cigarettes declined compared with earlier surveys. However, awareness and perceived harm of e-cigarettes did not show evidence of promoting smoking cessation at the population level.