Vaping and Smoking Cessation

Background: Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) or vaping address a significant unmet need for traditional smokers who are endeavoring to quit this practice. Objectives: We conducted an extensive PubMed search to review the studies involving e-cigarettes as an ostensibly healthier alternative to cigarette smoking and an approach to smoking cessation. Results: E-cigarettes are potentially carcinogenic, may confer severe cardiopulmonary symptoms and are inconclusively effective at occasioning smoking cessation; hence, consumers should be circumspect when considering this inhalation practice, especially vulnerable populations (e.g., teenagers and young adults) who may exhibit a greater proclivity to adopting this lifestyle choice. Conclusions: Since the smoking cessation results are equivocal and the long-term safety and addictive nature of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes remain concerning, the use of e-cigarettes should be inadvisable until proven otherwise.