New CDC Data Suggest that Electronic Cigarettes are Strongly Associated with Quit Attempts

New CDC data released today on adult use of electronic cigarettes in 2014 suggest that vaping is strongly associated with quit attempts. Three of the main findings were:

1. "Current cigarette smokers who had tried to quit smoking in the past year were more likely than smokers who had not tried to quit to have ever tried an e-cigarette."

2. "Current cigarette smokers who had tried to quit in the past year (20.3%) were almost twice as likely as cigarette smokers who had not tried to quit (11.8%) to currently use e-cigarettes."

3. "Nearly one in four recent former cigarette smokers (22.0%) currently used e-cigarettes."

The Rest of the Story

These data suggest that electronic cigarettes are strongly associated with smokers making quit attempts. If you want to know whether a smoker has tried to quit smoking recently, ask him if he is using e-cigarettes and you'll have a good indication.

Moreover, since 22% of recent former smokers are current e-cigarette users, it appears that electronic cigarettes have played a major role in smoking cessation for nearly one-fourth of this population of recent quitters.

These population-based data are informative, as they provide one of the first investigations into the potential benefits of electronic cigarettes. And the initial indications are that electronic cigarettes are playing a substantial role in smoking cessation attempts and in actual quitting.