ArticleAmerican journal of epidemiology2020
Use of Electronic Cigarettes to Aid Long-Term Smoking Cessation in the United States: Prospective Evidence From the PATH Cohort Study.
Article in American journal of epidemiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 34 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between e-cigarette use and cigarette abstinence or changes in continued cigarette smoking among individuals who smoke cigarettes.Harm reduction journal · 2026Pooled it
- "We adjusted for race": now what? A systematic review of utilization and reporting of race in American Journal of Epidemiology and Epidemiology, 2020-2021.Epidemiologic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- How effective are electronic cigarettes for reducing respiratory and cardiovascular risk in smokers? A systematic review.Harm reduction journal · 2020Pooled it
- Association of naturalistic e-cigarette use and smoking cessation in US adults.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Tobacco advertising, cross-over effects, and US adolescent progression from never to current tobacco use.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Perceptions of Somali American male young adults in Salt Lake City about social media marketing of e-cigarettes: a pilot study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Awareness and use of e-cigarettes among Filipino adults: evidence from the 2015 and 2021 Global Adult Tobacco Surveys.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- 5. Facilitating Positive Health Behaviors and Well-being to Improve Health Outcomes: Standards of Care in Diabetes-2026.Diabetes care · 2026Review
- Emerging trends and determinants of electronic cigarette use among young Thai men, 2022-2024.BMC public health · 2025Article
- 5. Facilitating Positive Health Behaviors and Well-being to Improve Health Outcomes: Standards of Care in Diabetes-2025.Diabetes care · 2025Review
- Recommendations to advance equity in tobacco control.Tobacco control · 2024Article
- Changes in e-cigarette use and subsequent cigarette smoking cessation in the USA: evidence from a prospective PATH study, 2013-2018.Tobacco control · 2024Article
- Relationship Between Tobacco Product Use and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Individuals With COPD in Waves 1-5 (2013-2019) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study.Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (Miami, Fla.) · 2024Article
- Improving Prediction of Tobacco Use Over Time: Findings from Waves 1-4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024Article
- Article
- An overview of traditional smoking cessation interventions and E-cigarettes.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Review
- Influence of Disclosed and Undisclosed Funding Sources in Tobacco Harm Reduction Discourse: A Social Network Analysis.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2023Review
- Effectiveness of e-cigarettes as aids for smoking cessation: evidence from the PATH Study cohort, 2017-2019.Tobacco control · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of ENDS, NRT and medication for smoking cessation among cigarette-only users: a longitudinal analysis of PATH Study wave 3 (2015-2016) and 4 (2016-2017), adult data.Tobacco control · 2023Article
- Association between Electronic Cigarettes Use and Asthma in the United States: Data from the National Health Interview Survey 2016-2019.Yonsei medical journal · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are the preferred smoking-cessation aid in the United States; however, there is little evidence regarding long-term effectiveness among those who use them. We used the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study to compare long-term abstinence between matched US smokers who tried to quit with and without use of e-cigarettes as a cessation aid. We identified a nationally representative cohort of 2,535 adult US smokers in 2014-2015 (baseline assessment), who, in 2015-2016 (exposure assessment), reported a past-year attempt to quit and the cessation aids used, and reported smoking status in 2016-2017 (outcome assessment; self-reported ≥12 months continuous abstinence). We used propensity-score methods to match each e-cigarette user with similar nonusers. Among US smokers who used e-cigarettes to help quit, 12.9% (95% confidence interval (CI): 9.1%, 16.7%) successfully attained long-term abstinence. However, there was no difference compared with matched non-e-cigarette users (cigarette abstinence difference: 2%; 95% CI: -3%, 7%). Furthermore, fewer e-cigarette users were abstinent from nicotine products in the long term (nicotine abstinence difference: -4%; 95% CI: -7%, -1%); approximately two-thirds of e-cigarette users who successfully quit smoking continued to use e-cigarettes. These results suggest e-cigarettes may not be an effective cessation aid for adult smokers and, instead, may contribute to continuing nicotine dependence.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.