Are e-cigarettes a 'gateway to nicotine addiction'?

Conclusion This study found US adolescents who use e-cigarettes are more likely to smoke conventional cigarettes. They also have lower odds of abstaining from conventional cigarettes than those who don't try e-cigarettes. On the flip side, e-cigarette users were more likely to report planning to quit conventional smoking. The research sample was large, so is likely to provide a relatively accurate picture of the smoking behaviour of US adolescents. These results suggest that e-cigarettes may not discourage conventional cigarette smoking in US adolescents, and may encourage it. However, because of the cross-sectional nature of the information, it cannot prove that trying e-cigarettes causes adolescents to take up conventional smoking. There may be other factors at play. And indeed, smoking tobacco cigarettes may cause teenagers to take up e-cigarettes. For example, the type of person who may want to try smoking in the past could only try conventional smoking. Nowadays, they have e-cigarettes as an option too. Retrospectively trying to work out if they would have taken up conventional smoking had they not tried e-cigarettes first is not possible. This question would require a cohort study that tracks behaviour over time. You would then be able to see which smoking method they took up first and if one led to the other. This was not possible using the data the researchers had to hand in the current study. Conventional smoking has been a public health priority for many decades ...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news