Category: Research

Study: E-Cigs Effective at Helping Pregnant Smokers Quit
Credit: Andrey Popov
New research reveals that e-cigarettes are as safe to use as nicotine patches for pregnant smokers trying to quit and may be a more effective tool.
Quitting smoking is difficult. For smokers who become pregnant, not quitting smoking in pregnancy can increase the risk of outcomes including premature birth, miscarriage and the baby having a low birth weight, according to a story in The Guardian.
“Many pregnant smokers find it difficult to quit with current stop smoking medications including nicotine patches and continue to smoke throughout pregnancy,” said Dr. Francesca Pesola, an author of the new study who is based at Queen Mary University in London.
While e-cigarettes have been found to be more effective than nicotine patches in helping people quit, Pesola noted there has been little research into their effectiveness or safety among pregnant women, despite an increase in use by expectant mothers.
Writing in the journal Nature Medicine, Pesola and colleagues describe how they randomly assigned 569 pregnant smokers to use e-cigarettes and 571 to use nicotine patches – a form of nicotine replacement therapy that can already be prescribed by during pregnancy. The participants were, on average, 15.7 weeks pregnant and smoked 10 cigarettes a day.
Only 40 percent of those given e-cigarettes and 23 percent of those given patches used their allocated product for at least four weeks. However, both uptake and duration of use during the study was higher among those given e-cigarettes.
After excluding participants who self-reported not smoking but who used nicotine products other than those allocated to them – for example those given patches group who used e-cigarettes – the team found those given e-cigarettes appeared to do better at quitting smoking.
May 17, 2022
Researchers Invited to Access Latest PATH Data

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is encouraging researchers to access recently published numbers on tobacco consumption.
In March, the agency’s Center for Tobacco Products, together with the National Institutes of Health, released the first set of widely available Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study tables and figures that provide information on tobacco use among youth (aged 12-17), young adults (aged 18-24), and adults (aged 25+).
The content, which is available for public use, may be downloaded from the PATH Study webpage, which also provides information about the analytic methods used to generate the tables and figures.
The PATH Study is a uniquely large, long-term study of tobacco use and health in the United States. By following study participants over time, the PATH Study helps scientists learn how and why people start using tobacco, quit using it, and start using it again after they’ve quit, as well as how different tobacco products affect health over time.
April 25, 2022
More Than 60% of Doctors Confused About Vaping Risks
More than 60% of all doctors incorrectly believe all tobacco products are equally harmful, making them less likely to recommend e-cigarettes for people trying to quit smoking, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
The study, led by Rutgers University, shows that researchers asked more than 2,000 doctors in the U.S. in 2018 and 2019 about how they would advise patients on using e-cigarettes ask a method of combustible smoking cessation. One in four physicians discouraged all use of e-cigarettes and also were more likely to advise against them if the hypothetical smoker they were counseling were a younger, light smoker compared to an older, heavy smoker.
Credit: Airdone
Although no associations were found between harm-reduction beliefs and being asked about e-cigarettes by patients, the association between physicians’ harm-reduction beliefs and their e-cigarette recommendation practices was significant.
“These findings show it is critical to address physicians’ misperceptions and educate them on e-cigarettes’ efficacy, particularly correcting their misperceptions that all tobacco products are equally harmful, as opposed to the fact that combusted tobacco is by far the most dangerous,” lead author Cristine Delnevo, the director of the Rutgers Center for Tobacco Studies, said in a statement.
The belief that all tobacco products are equally harmful was associated with lower rates of recommending e-cigarettes, the study states, adding that as the evidence base grows for e-cigarette efficacy for smoking cessation, there is need for physician education regarding e-cigarette efficacy.
“As the evidence base grows for e-cigarette efficacy for smoking cessation, physicians’ understanding of e-cigarettes in the context of harm reduction must keep pace with the emerging scientific evidence through effective educational opportunities,” the study’s authors write. “Such opportunities should address e-cigarette safety and efficacy and correct misperceptions that all tobacco products are equally harmful.”
April 19, 2022
Study: Local, State Vape Bans Lead to More Smoking

A new study in Value in Health shows that local vape bans are leading to higher rates of combustible cigarette smoking, according to Filter.
The study used state-level cigarette sales data, showing that Massachusetts had 7.5 percent higher than expected per capita cigarette sales following a full ban on nicotine vapor products. Rhode Island and Washington, which both enacted nontobacco-flavored nicotine vape bans, showed an average estimate of 4.6 percent higher than expected per capita cigarette sales.
Researchers suggested that an additional 3.4 million cigarette packs were sold through convenience stores in those states during the three-month study period.
The study was funded by Juul Labs.
April 8, 2022
Study: Vaping Bans Boost Combustible Cigarette Sales
The U.S. states that have banned or heavily restricted vaping product sales have seen increases in combustibe cigarette sales, according to the latest research. The study titled “Impact of Banning Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems on Combustible Cigarette Sales: Evidence from US State-Level Policies,” said cigarette sales increased by up to 7.5 percent in one state that imposed a full ban on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).
Credit: Wire Stock
According to the study, published in the medical journal Value in Health, found that a full ban on ENDS was associated with increased cigarette sales of 7.5 percent in Massachusetts and banning non-tobacco flavored ENDS was associated with a minimum of a 4.6 percent increase in cigarette sales among the US states outlawed most flavors (Massachusetts, Washington, and Rhode Island).
ENDS are considered by many to be an alternative nicotine product for adult smokers, and banning them may have unintended consequences, according to the authors of the study. “Cigarette sales in states banning ENDS were significantly higher than would have been observed otherwise,” researchers Yingying Xu, Lanxin Jiang, Shivaani Prakash, and Tengjiao Chen stated in the study, adding that commercial sales data provided the evidence that banning e-cigarettes was associated with increased sales of traditional cigarettes.
The authors looked at cigarettes sales data in 2020 following the start of restrictions on vaping in several states in the U.S. in the fall of 2019 that were imposed in several states following the outbreak of the e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI), which was caused by illegal THC products and not nicotine vaping products.
The researchers also stated that the results “highlight and quantify potential unintended consequences” of ENDS sales restrictions, and the study’s results should be considered in the future as part of public health impact analyses of such policies.
“Additional research is also needed to investigate the impact on spatial spillover effects, illicit markets, and other scenarios that may arise in response to ENDS restrictions. Furthermore, the long-term impact of ENDS sales bans on ENDS and cigarette sales, as well as the distal public health outcomes, will need to be studied as additional data become available,” the report states.
March 23, 2022
Vaping Gateway to Smoking Myth Debunked by Scientists
Credit: Alex Puhovoy
A new study concludes that 18 to 24 year old’s that use e-cigarettes did not use vaping as a gateway to smoking combustible cigarettes.
The report, published in the journal Addiction, examined e-cigarette use in England among young adults between 2007 and 2018, according to the Belfast Telegraph.
In the study, a team from University College London reviewed data for England from the Smoking Toolkit Study.
Lead author, Emma Beard, said the “findings suggest that the large gateway effects reported in previous studies can be ruled out, particularly among those aged 18 to 24.
“However, we cannot rule out a smaller gateway effect and we did not study younger age groups.” she said.
“If the upper estimates are true, we would estimate that of the 74,000 e-cigarette users aged 16 to 17 in England, around 7,000 would become ever regular smokers as a consequence of e-cigarette use.
“At the same time, approximately 50,000 smokers are estimated to quit per year as a consequence of e-cigarette use.”
March 15, 2022
NYTS: Massive Declines in Smoking Rates Continue
Youth cigarette smoking rates in the United States are at historically low levels, with just 1.9 percent of high school students reporting current use of cigarettes, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey 2021.
The NYTS found 2.55 million middle-school and high school students in the United States used tobacco products in 2021, according to figures released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the 2020 results, the agency estimated 4.5 million tobacco users among middle school and high school students nationally, down from 6.2 million in 2019.
If the report is accurate, tobacco use among teens nationally declined by more than 40 percent from 2020 to 2021. That would be largest decline in the history of the NYTS.
E-cigarettes were the most popular tobacco product among middle school and high school students in 2021, with an estimated 2 million users, the report found. Puff Bar was the popular brand. That is expected to change next year after Congress passed a rule the same day the study was released that gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority over synthetic nicotine products. That rule requires manufacturers of synthetic nicotine products to file a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) with the FDA within 90 days.
An estimated 400,000 of students in the middle-high school age range smoked traditional cigarettes, while approximately 380,000 used cigars. Roughly 240,000 used smokeless tobacco, while 220,000 used hookahs and 200,000 tried nicotine pouches, according to the report.
Although the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration “remain confident in our study results,” the survey was conducted online, the agencies have again said that this year’s results cannot be compared to previous years. However, both the 2019 and 2020 surveys were conducted primarily on school campuses, the agencies said.
March 11, 2022
Study: Number of Global Vapers up by 20% From 2020

Illustration: GSTHR
The number of vapers worldwide increased by 20 percent from 2020 to 2021, according to the latest research by the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR), a project from Knowledge Action Change. The organization estimates that there are now 82 million vapers worldwide.
The updated calculation was made possible by the release of a range of new data, including the 2021 Eurobarometer 506 survey, and is revealed in a new GSTHR briefing paper. The figure is based on 49 countries that have produced viable survey results on vaping prevalence.
To address the problem of missing data, the GSTHR used an established method of estimating vaper numbers in countries that currently have no information by assuming a similarity with countries in the same region and economic condition for which data points were available.
This estimate considers three factors—sales regulation status, World Health Organization regions and World Bank income groups—along with the Euromonitor data on vaping product market size from 2015 to 2021.

This [increase in vapers] is in spite of prohibitive policies in many countries who follow the World Health Organization’s anti-scientific stance against tobacco harm reduction, thanks to Michael Bloomberg’s billions and his personal zeal for a war on nicotine.”
Gerry Stimson, director, KAC
“As well as the substantial growth in the number of vapers globally, our research shows there has been rapid uptake of nicotine vaping products in some countries in Europe and in North America,” said Tomasz Jerzynski, data scientist at GSTHR. “This increase is particularly significant, because in most markets, these products have been available for only a decade.”
Indeed, the rise in the number of global vapers comes despite the GSTHR’s database showing nicotine vaping products are banned in 36 countries, including India, Japan, Egypt, Brazil and Turkey.
The new data also shows the U.S. is the largest market for vaping at $10.3 billion, followed by Western Europe ($6.6 billion), Asia-Pacific ($4.4 billion) and Eastern Europe ($1.6 billion).
“As this updated data from the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction shows, consumers find nicotine vaping products attractive and are switching to use them in increasing numbers worldwide,” said Gerry Stimson, director of KAC and emeritus professor at Imperial College London. “This is in spite of prohibitive policies in many countries who follow the World Health Organization’s anti-scientific stance against tobacco harm reduction, thanks to Michael Bloomberg’s billions and his personal zeal for a war on nicotine.”

March 9, 2022
Study: Vapes Nearly Halve Prediabetes Risks of Smoking
A new study claims that people who use vaping devices are 22 percent more likely to have high blood sugar – known as prediabetes – compared with those who have never used them. However, traditional cigarettes increase a combustible smokers risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 40 percent.
Researchers from Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. analyzed data from 600,000 people. They looked for links between e-cigarette use and prediabetes – a serious but reversible health condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes.
To determine the association between e-cigarette use and prediabetes, the investigators analyzed 2016–2018 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). It said to be the largest annual nationally representative health survey of U.S. adults with data on health outcomes, health-related risk behaviors, preventive services, and chronic medical conditions.
“Our study demonstrated a clear association of prediabetes risk with the use of e-cigarettes. With both e-cigarette use and prevalence of prediabetes dramatically on the rise in the past decade, our discovery that e-cigarettes carry a similar risk to traditional cigarettes with respect to diabetes is important for understanding and treating vulnerable individuals,” said Shyam Biswal, the study’s lead investigator.
The researchers state that the possible link between combustible cigarettes, e-cigarettes and prediabetes is not understood. However, nicotine, which is in both traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes, has long been linked to a rise in blood sugar levels, according to news reports.
The results, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, showed that current e-cigarette users are 22 percent more likely to have prediabetes compared with those who those who had never used them, while former vapers still had a 12 percent higher risk.
Prediabetes is reversible with lifestyle management, according to reports.
March 3, 2022
Study Finds Vaping May be Less Harmful for Women
A new study concludes that vaping could potentially be less harmful for women then men who vape.
Loren Wold, the study’s senior author and associate dean for research operations at the Ohio State College of Medicine, believes this could be because the females produced a higher amount of an enzyme that breaks down nicotine. According to the study, humans carry a similar level of that enzyme.
Credit: J.A.
“The results were surprising. We were shocked at the amount of protection afforded to females,” Wold said. “The theory is that since the enzyme breaks down nicotine so much faster, the nicotine isn’t in the circulation as long and that may be why females exhibit protection from vaping.”
Funded as part of a $5.5 million grant awarded by the American Heart Association, the Ohio State University study looked at mice between the human equivalent of ages 12 to 30 in an effort to determine the impacts of vaping on young adults.
Researchers exposed both male and female mice to an e-cigarette aerosol mixture and found that, while heart function in male mice decreased over time, female mice remained unaffected.
Researchers are now working to determine whether the enzyme can help provide a higher level of protection to human women, according to a release from the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. Meanwhile, researchers are conducting a similar study to determine the best ways to reduce youth addiction to e-cigarettes.
March 1, 2022