Are E-Cigarettes Less Addictive Than Regular Cigarettes?

E-cigarettes are less addictive than regular cigarettes, results from a recent study at Penn State University showed.

The Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, an ongoing national survey, aims to provide data on tobacco use among more than 30,000 young people and adults.
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Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine have evaluated responses to the PATH study to compare cigarette and e-cigarette dependence among daily or almost-daily users. Out of 32,320 survey responses, 3586 fit this criteria. About 95% of these 3586 users exclusively used e-cigarettes, and about 5% exclusively used cigarettes.

According to the study, people who use e-cigarettes tended to wait longer after waking up to start smoking. Additionally, they were less likely to consider themselves addicted, to have strong cravings, or to feel like they needed to smoke. People who use e-cigarettes were also less likely to report difficulty abstaining from use in restricted places.

Although the results indicate that e-cigarettes are less addictive than regular cigarettes, the researchers noted that e-cigarettes are still addictive.

Future studies will continue to analyze e-cigarette users' dependency and evolution of e-cigarette use. Additionally, the researchers plan to analyze the blood and urine samples submitted by 80% of adults who participated in the PATH study to see if participants’ nicotine levels match their self-reported dependence.

Follow-up data from participants may determine whether experimental e-cigarette users are eventually converted to regular cigarette users. Users of both e-cigarettes and cigarettes will also be analyzed so that the researchers can better understand nicotine dependence on the entire spectrum of e-cigarette use.

The results of the PATH study will likely affect tightening or loosening of regulations around vaping products in the future, according to the researchers. The US Food and Drug Administration began regulating e-cigarettes in May 2016 and prohibited vendors from marketing or selling them to minors.

"Adolescents very much by nature want to experiment with everything and anything," said Guodong Liu, assistant professor of public health sciences at Penn State College of Medicine. "We have to know a lot on almost every aspect of this device before we can have a coherent action plan to better manage this new emerging tobacco delivery product."

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

E-cigarettes less addictive than cigarettes, PATH study shows [press release]. University Park, PA: Penn State University; June 12, 2017. http://news.psu.edu/story/471014/2017/06/12/research/e-cigarettes-less-addictive-cigarettes-path-study-shows. Accessed June 13, 2017.