Electronic cigarette use as an aid to quit smoking: Evidence from PASSI survey, 2014–2021

This paper updates a previous cross-sectional study on the effectiveness of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) as an aid to quit smoking. In the 2014–2021 PASSI survey, the ongoing Italian behavioural risk factor surveillance system, on a total of 239,812 subjects representative of the Italian adult population respondents who smoked and made at least one quit attempt in the previous 12 months (i.e., 19,234 subjects) were categorized into four groups according to the method used in their most recent quit attempt: no aid, e-cigarettes, standard pharmacological support (medications) and/or smoking cessation services (SCSs), other unspecified methods. The primary outcome was self-reported abstinence for a period ≥6 months. Thirteen percent of participants used e-cigarettes to quit, 83% no aid, 2% medications/SCSs, 3% other unspecified methods. Smoking abstinence was reported among 10% of those using no aid; 11% among e-cigarette users; 16% among those using medications/SCSs; and 13% among those using other unspecified methods. No significant difference in abstinence was observed for those reporting no aid compared with e-cigarette users (adjusted Prevalence Ratio [aPR] = 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.79–1.10). Those using medications/SCSs were significantly more likely to report abstinence than e-cigarette users (aPR = 1.35; 95% CI = 1.01–1.81). E-cigarettes as consumer products are not associated with higher quitting rates than those recorded using no aid, therefore there is no health benefit for allowing them to be marketed to smokers.