A new paper in Research on nicotine and tobaccopublished by Oxford University Press, reveals that people who switch from cigarettes to vaping see an improvement in their respiratory health, but people who start using e-cigarettes while continuing to smoke regular cigarettes do not report an improvement in their respiratory symptoms.

Adults are increasingly using electronic cigarettes to try to quit smoking because of the perceived reduced risk. But while vaping reduces exposure to toxic chemicals, it’s not clear whether switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes leads to a reduction in respiratory problems, like wheezing and coughing, common among regular cigarette smokers.

Here, the researchers used data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, a national longitudinal measure of tobacco use in the United States conducted by the National Institutes of Health. Investigators here observed adult participants between 2013 and 2019 who reported smoking cigarettes exclusively at the start of the survey and reported baseline coughing or wheezing.

The researchers divided the subjects into four groups: those who switched from smoking exclusively to quitting nicotine altogether, those who switched from smoking to vaping exclusively, those who continued to smoke only cigarettes, and those who continued smoking and have also started vaping.

Completely switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes resulted in a moderate increase in resolution of wheezing symptoms compared to persistent smoking. However, resolution rates of respiratory symptoms were lower among those who switched to vaping while maintaining or increasing their smoking. Among the 5,210 subjects with an initial cough, 3,362 (65%) saw their cough disappear. Of the 5,367 people who reported baseline wheezing, researchers observed that 2,862 (53%) saw improvements. Switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes exclusively resulted in a significant reduction in wheezing, but not resolution of coughing. Transitioning to smoking and vaping (vs. just continuing to smoke cigarettes) was not associated with overall respiratory improvement or even among participants who reduced the intensity of their smoking.

The researchers note that symptom resolution rates were 14% lower (for cough) and 15% lower (for wheezing) among those who switched to dual use and maintained or increased their smoking intensity; those who started using e-cigarettes while continuing to smoke the same number of regular cigarettes saw reduced wheezing and coughing. worse.

Switching from smoking cigarettes to completely stopping nicotine was, not surprisingly, associated with the greatest improvements in coughing and wheezing.