Peer-reviewed research published in the Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health of 72 adult smokers willing to try vaping as an alternative to smoking found that – after 90 days – over a third had completely replaced their cigarettes with blu vapes, suggesting their potential as a cigarette replacement.
“Our data show that it is possible to facilitate significant behavioural change on the part of smokers as a result of providing them with access to high quality e-cigarette products, at least for a short period of time,” said Professor Neil McKeganey, Director of Centre for Substance Use Research, who conducted the study.
After 90 days the researchers found:
The latter finding suggests that vaping may have additional benefits over time – i.e. a proportion of smokers completely transitioned within the first month of use, but a larger proportion needed longer than 2 months – gradually transitioning over a longer period.
“All participants found the flavours used were important in helping them to transition or cut down and 92.1% believed that vaping had helped them to cut down or replace smoking completely at 90 days,” added Professor McKeganey.
Contrary to these impressive results, licensed nicotine replacement therapies have been shown to be substantially less satisfying to smokers as evidenced by their modest efficacy – in some cases (1, 2, 3) less than 15% smoking abstinence after 3 months use.
It’s also clear from this study that vapers who continue to smoke (termed ‘dual users’) are undergoing a longer-term transition to non-smoking, moving through different stages of use that may not be evident in snapshot surveys.
Our research should encourage the third of UK smokers who have not yet vaped to consider it as a viable alternative to conventional cigarettes.
Watch our video about the research below.
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