The Relationship Between E-cigarette Use and Cessation Rates in Public Health Tobacco Cessation Programs

Understanding behaviors in electronic cigarette use is important to implementing changes in clean indoor air policies, improving quit and abstinence rates in tobacco cessation programs, and advancing accurate perceptions on the safety of e-cigarettes. E-cigarette use is a fast-growing trend, particularly among youth, which has not been thoroughly researched in terms of the influence on traditional cigarette use. The objective of this research is to determine whether there is an association between e-cigarette use and the cigarette cessation rates of participants in tobacco programs. I examined current quantitative data from 1,387 participants within statewide public health tobacco cessation programs to determine the correlation between their e-cigarette use and their smoking status after 1 month and 7 month follow-ups. The analysis will be conducted using a Chi square test in SPSS to examine tobacco cessation outcomes by three target groups- adult, youth, and pregnant women. Preliminary results indicate there is a significant difference in the quit and abstinence rates of smokers who used e-cigarettes compared with smokers who did not use e-cigarettes