The electronic cigarette online survey

The electronic cigarette online survey.they do not merely address the products’ flaws,
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), which rush inbut eliminate a promising smoking cessation
popularity in 2008, may be the most promising productintervention, offering few realistic options for bringing
for tobacco harm reduction yet. E-cigarettes deliver athe product back to market. There is a high likelihood
nicotine vapor without the combustion products thatthat some people who switched from cigarettes to
are responsible for nearly all of smoking’s healthe-cigarettes but lose access to e-cigarettes will
effects. Other than anecdotal accounts, there is littleresume smoking.
information about who uses e-cigarettes, and whetherThere are many testimonials and anecdotes on the
people who switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettesinternet about people switching from cigarettes to
experience changes in symptoms caused by smoking.e-cigarettes but, to our knowledge, there have been no
This pilot online survey, conducted byquantified data published.
tobaccoharmreduction.org, investigated e-cigarette useOne online e-cigarette distributor based in the United
for smoking cessation and changes in health statusKingdom conducted an online marketing survey of their
and smoking caused symptoms.e-cigarette users and made their data available to
A convenience sample (n=303) was enrolled by e-mailresearchers at the University of Alberta School of
and links on various blogs and forums in May-JunePublic Health for re-analysis.
2009. Independent university researchers at theThe objectives of this study were to describe
project analyzed the data.e-cigarette users' patterns of cigarette and e-cigarette
 usage and smoking cessation attempts and to
All respondents previously smoked and 91% hadcompare health status and smoking-attributable
attempted to stop smoking before trying ecigarettes.symptoms between people who completely switched
Most respondents resided in the USA (72%) and 21%from smoking to e-cigarettes, those who partially
were in Europe. About halfswitched, and those who supplemented cigarette
(55%) were 31-50, while 32% were >50 years old.smoking with e-cigarette usage.
Most (79%) of the respondents had been using 
e-cigarettes for <6 months and reported using themThe survey assessed respondents' use of cigarettes,
as a complete (79%) or partial (17%) replacement for,e-cigarettes, smoking cessation (including use of
rather than in addition to (4%), cigarettes. The majoritypharmaceutical products and switching to e-cigarettes)
of respondents reported that their general health (91%),and changes in smoking-caused symptoms since using
smoker’s cough (97%), ability to exercise (84%),e-cigarettes. The dataset included 304 observations,
and sense of smell (80%) and taste (73%) wereone of which excluded from all analyses because only
better since using e-cigarettes and none reported thatcountry of residence and comments were entered.
these were worse. Although people whose e-cigaretteThere were two sets of two observations each,
use completely replaced smoking were more likely towhich had the same IP address. There were no
experience improvements in health and smokingentries with the same e-mail address. In addition, there
caused symptoms, most people who substitutedwere 31 observations with no IP or email address.
e-cigarettes for even some of their cigarettes 
experienced improvements.Results
 Approximately half of the sample was between the
These are highly motivated and passionate e-cigaretteages of 31 and 50, one-third were more than 50 years
users who may have different experiences thanold and none were under the age of 18. Nearly
average e-cigarette users or smokers, and thus thethree-quarters resided in the US, followed by 17% from
estimates cannot be extrapolated to all smokers orthe UK. Most of the respondents had been using
e-cigarette users. However, the results still suggeste-cigarettes for less than six months and all had
that very few e-cigarette users are not using them tosmoked prior to using e-cigarettes. Most of the
replace cigarettes and there are many switchers andrespondents had previously tried to stop smoking
current smokers who could have the reportedmultiple times.
experience. Unfortunately e-cigarettes have beenThe majority (86%) of respondents had tried
banned in some jurisdictions (e.g., Canada, Victoriapharmaceutical products to quit smoking, nearly
(Australia)) where switching from cigarettes totwo-thirds of whom indicated that these products did
e-cigarettes was documented. The lack of availablenot help them to stop smoking. However, most of the
and legal e-cigarettes may cause some users tosample was able to use e-cigarettes as a complete
resume smoking.replacement for cigarettes.
 The majority of the respondents indicated that their
Introductiongeneral health, smoker’s cough, ability to exercise,
Awareness and use of electronic cigarettessense of smell and sense of taste were better since
(e-cigarettes) has dramatically increased in the paststarting to use e-cigarettes and none indicated that
two years. These devices, which are manufacturedthese were worse when responding to these five
and sold by several different companies, deliverquestions.
nicotine by vaporizing a gel composed of water, 
propylene glycol, flavorings, and nicotine. E-cigarettesOn average, respondents who lived in Europe had
deliver nicotine without the products of combustion thatused e-cigarettes for longer than respondents in the
are inhaled by smoking cigarettes. Therefore, theUS, but were less likely to use e-cigarettes as a
health risks are likely similar to those from smokelesscomplete replacement for cigarettes. There was a
tobacco, which has approximately 1% of the mortalitypositive relationship between the number of times
risk of smoking. There is likely some remaining risk dueparticipants had tried to stop smoking and using
to the stimulant effects of nicotine. E-cigarettes aree-cigarettes as a complete replacement for cigarettes.
one category of no combustion nicotine productMost (81%) of the respondents who indicated that
(others being smokeless tobacco and pharmaceuticalpharmaceutical products did not help them stop
nicotine products) that are promising for tobacco harmsmoking used ecigarettes as a complete replacement
reduction, the substitution of less harmful nicotinefor cigarettes.
products for cigarettes [3,4].Although the majority of respondents reported that
E-cigarettes are widely available in the United Statestheir health and smoking-caused symptoms improved
and Europe and are also available online through manysince using e-cigarettes, there were some notable
different distributors. E-cigarettes have been banned intrends in which groups were morelikely to report
some jurisdictions including Canada [5,6] and Victoriaimprovements. Respondents who had been using
(Australia) [6] and are subject to the indoore-cigarettes for a longer period of time, who had
“smoking” bans in others (e.g., [7]). Although therecompletely replaced their cigarettes with e-cigarettes,
are legitimate concerns about quality control andor were younger, were more likely to report
product tampering, the importation/sale bans haveimprovements.
been criticized by public health advocates because