“A Penn State College of Medicine study suggests that these devices may help people decrease their dependence on combustible cigarettes — which contain an array of harmful chemicals called toxicants — without increasing their overall nicotine dependence.
The researchers enrolled 520 participants interested in reducing their cigarette intake but with no plans or interest to quit smoking and instructed them to reduce their cigarette consumption over the six-month study period. Participants randomly received an e-cigarette that delivered 36, 8 or 0 mg/mL of nicotine, or a cigarette substitute that contained no tobacco, as an aid in their efforts to reduce their cigarette consumption. Participants self-reported their cigarette and e-cigarette dependence at one, three and six months using validated measures of dependence.
At six months, all participants in the e-cigarette groups reported significant, decreased cigarette consumption, with those in the 36 mg/mL group smoking the least number of cigarettes per day. Those in the e-cigarette groups reported significantly lower dependence on the Penn State Cigarette Dependence Index than those in the cigarette substitute group.
“Our results suggest that using e-cigarettes or a cigarette substitute to reduce cigarette consumption can result in a reduction of self-reported cigarette use and dependence,” said Yingst, who directs the College of Medicine’s Doctor of Public Health Program.
“Importantly, use of the high concentration e-cigarette did not increase overall nicotine dependence, and was associated with a greater reduction in cigarette smoking compared to the cigarette substitute.””
ARTICLE LINK: E-cigarette use to reduce cigarette smoking may not increase nicotine dependence
Store
