• Sara Kalkhoran, Yuchiao Chang, and Nancy A Rigotti.
• Tobacco Research and Treatment Center, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.
• Nicotine Tob. Res. 2020 Apr 21; 22 (5): 728-733.

IntroductionElectronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) could benefit public health if they help current smokers to stop smoking long term, but evidence that they do so is limited. We aimed to determine the association between e-cigarette use and subsequent smoking cessation in a nationally representative cohort of US smokers followed for 2 years.MethodsWe analyzed data from adult cigarette smokers in Waves 1 through 3 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study. The primary exposure was e-cigarette use at Wave 1. The primary outcome was prolonged cigarette abstinence, defined as past 30-day cigarette abstinence at Waves 2 and 3 (1- and 2-year follow-up).ResultsAmong Wave 1 cigarette smokers, 3.6% were current daily e-cigarette users, 18% were current non-daily e-cigarette users, and 78% reported no current e-cigarette use. In multivariable-adjusted analyses, daily e-cigarette use at Wave 1 was associated with higher odds of prolonged cigarette smoking abstinence at Waves 2 and 3 compared to nonuse of e-cigarettes (11% vs. 6%, adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.77, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08 to 2.89). Non-daily e-cigarette use was not associated with prolonged cigarette smoking abstinence. Among Wave 1 daily e-cigarette users who were abstinent from cigarette smoking at Wave 3, 63% were using e-cigarettes at Wave 3.ConclusionsIn this longitudinal cohort study of US adult cigarette smokers, daily but not non-daily e-cigarette use was associated with higher odds of prolonged cigarette smoking abstinence over 2 years, compared to no e-cigarette use. Daily use of e-cigarettes may help some smokers to stop smoking combustible cigarettes.ImplicationsIn this nationally representative longitudinal cohort study of US adult cigarette smokers, daily e-cigarette use, compared to no e-cigarette use, was associated with a 77% increased odds of prolonged cigarette smoking abstinence over the subsequent 2 years. Regular use of e-cigarettes may help some smokers to stop smoking combustible cigarettes.© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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