Switchers See Respiratory Improvements
Smokers who switch to vaping see improved respiratory health, finds a new research paper in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, published by Oxford University Press
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by Dave Cross
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A new paper in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, published by Oxford University Press, finds that people who switch from smoking cigarettes to vaping see improved respiratory health, but the same can’t be said for dual users who begin vaping while continuing to smoke tobacco cigarettes.
The research paper’s authors not that adults are increasingly using vapes to try to quit smoking because of the perceived reduced risk of electronic cigarettes.
“But while vaping reduces exposure to toxic chemicals, it has been unclear whether switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes results in a reduction of the respiratory problems, like wheezing and coughing, common in regular cigarette smokers,” they add.
The team used data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, a national longitudinal measure of tobacco use in the United States performed by the National Institutes of Health. The investigators observed adult participants between 2013 and 2019 who reported smoking cigarettes exclusively at the beginning of the investigation and reported a baseline cough or wheeze.
The team then divided the subjects into four groups:
- those who transitioned from exclusive cigarette smoking to quitting nicotine altogether
- those who switched from cigarette smoking to vaping exclusively
- those who continued to smoke cigarettes only
- those who kept smoking and also began vaping
The researcher said: “Completely switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes led to a moderate increase in the resolution of wheeze symptoms compared with persistent smoking. However, there were lower rates of respiratory symptom resolution among those transitioning to vaping while maintaining or increasing their smoking. Among 5,210 subjects with a baseline cough, 3,362 (65%) saw their coughs go away.
“Of the 5,367 people who reported a baseline wheeze, the researchers observed that 2,862 (53%) saw improvements. Switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes exclusively resulted in significantly reduced wheezing but not cough resolution. Transitioning to both smoking and vaping (vs. just continuing to smoke cigarettes) was not associated with respiratory improvement overall or even among participants who reduced their cigarette smoking intensity.”
The team noted that the rates of symptom resolution were 14% lower (for cough) and 15% lower (for wheeze) among those who switched to dual use and maintained or increased their smoking intensity; those who started using electronic cigarettes while continuing to smoke the same number of regular cigarettes saw their wheeze and coughing get worse.
Switching from smoking cigarettes to quitting nicotine altogether was, perhaps unsurprisingly, associated with the best improvements in both coughs and wheezing.
References:
- Association of cigarette–e-cigarette transitions with respiratory symptom resolution - https://academic.oup.com/ntr/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/ntr/ntae224/7853016
Photo Credit:
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash, resized and elements added
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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