E-Cigarettes Reportedly Less Addictive Than Cigarettes

E-cigarettes seem much less addicting than cigarettes in previous smokers, which may help enhance understanding of the way that various nicotine-delivery devices cause addiction, according to investigators at Penn State Hershey College of Medicine. The prevalence of vaporizers, which usually provide nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerin and flavors through inhaled steam, has grown in the last five years.

There are over 400 manufacturers of vaporizers accessible to the population. vaporizers feature much less cancer-causing agents along with other hazardous materials than traditional cigarettes, the investigators stated; yet, their long-term outcomes on well-being and smoking addiction are not known. To examine vaporizers habit, the investigators created an on-line survey, including questions designed to evaluate preceding reliance on cigarettes and nearly indistinguishable questions to evaluate present reliance upon cigarette.

More than 3,500 present customers of electronic cigarettes who have been ex-smokers finished the Penn State Cigarette Dependence Index as well as the Penn State Electronic cigarette Dependence Index. With greater nicotine concentration in vaporizer fluid, along with utilization of sophisticated second generation vaporizers, which provide nicotine better than earlier vaporizers anticipate reliance. Customers who used vaporizers longer additionally were more hooked. Although some frequent consumers of vaporizers are attempting to give up traditional cigarettes, the FDA hasn't accepted them for this particular use, plus they are not able to be promoted as a quit smoking product.

"This is a new class of products that's not yet regulated," said Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D., professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at Penn State Hershey. "It has the potential to do good and help a lot of people quit, but it also has the potential to do harm. Continuing to smoke and use e-cigarettes may not reduce health risks. Kids who have never smoked might begin nicotine addiction with e-cigs. There's a need for a better understanding of these products."

The results, which are released in the journal nicotine & Tobacco Research, also have consequences for creating vaporizers for smoking. Previous re-search suggests that nicotine-replacement effectiveness correlates with greater liquid dosage and more rapid delivery to the system. The newest category list found in the study is newer that the one normally used to survey reliance, the Fagerstrom Test for nicotine Dependence. That standard was created 25 years ago, and doesn't represent contemporary usage of cigarettes and vaporizer products, the investigators stated.

The newest survey also enables cross-comparisons between a distinct vaporizer and tobacco goods. "Not only are e-cigs a booming industry, but new tobacco products are set to enter the market soon," Foulds said. "Our questionnaire is designed to compare dependence across different products simply by substituting the different product name into the questionnaire in place of cigarettes."