Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35131948›Full record

ArticleTobacco control2023

Effectiveness of e-cigarettes as aids for smoking cessation: evidence from the PATH Study cohort, 2017-2019.

Ruifeng Chen, John P Pierce, Eric C Leas, Tarik Benmarhnia, David R Strong, Martha M White, Matthew Stone, Dennis R Trinidad, Sara B McMenamin, Karen Messer

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Tobacco control, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
64citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
10.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

64 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Inhaled Nicotine Salt and Free-Base Using an E-cigarette: A Randomized Crossover Study.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024
    Trial
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. The triple-hit hypothesis: exploring pulmonary e-cigarette, PMEuropean respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026
    Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Identifying Key Predictors of Smoking Cessation Success: Text-Based Feature Selection Using a Large Language Model.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2026
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Observational
  17. Urinary Tobacco and Nicotine Exposure Biomarkers as Predictors of Transitions between Cigarette and e-Cigarette Use in the Exhale Longitudinal Cohort Study.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2026
    Observational
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article

4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Ruifeng ChenHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
John P PierceHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA jppierce@ucsd.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-0075-7471
Eric C LeasHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Tarik BenmarhniaScripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
David R StrongHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Martha M WhiteMoores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Matthew StoneHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1152-0621
Dennis R TrinidadHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Sara B McMenaminHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Karen MesserHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
University of California San Diego · USScripps Institution of Oceanography · US

Funding

The role of ENDS use in changing rates of escalation and quitting of cigarette smoking in those under age 35 years in US populationR01CA234539 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI BENMARHNIA, TARIK, PIERCE, JOHN P · 2018 to 2020
$1.2M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA234539
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo assess the effectiveness of e-cigarettes in smoking cessation in the USA from 2017 to 2019, given the 2017 increase in high nicotine e-cigarette sales.

methodsIn 2017, the PATH Cohort Study included data on 3578 previous year smokers with a recent quit attempt and 1323 recent former smokers. Respondents reported e-cigarettes or other products used to quit cigarettes and many covariates associated with e-cigarette use. Study outcomes were 12+ months of cigarette abstinence and tobacco abstinence in 2019. We report weighted unadjusted estimates and use propensity score matched analyses with 1500 bootstrap samples to estimate adjusted risk differences (aRD).

resultsIn 2017, 12.6% (95% CI 11.3% to 13.9%) of recent quit attempters used e-cigarettes to help with their quit attempt, a decline from previous years. Cigarette abstinence for e-cigarette users (9.9%, 95% CI 6.6% to 13.2%) was lower than for no product use (18.6%, 95% CI 16.0% to 21.2%), and the aRD for e-cigarettes versus pharmaceutical aids was -7.3% (95% CI -14.4 to -0.4) and for e-cigarettes versus any other method was -7.7% (95% CI -12.2 to -3.2). Only 2.2% (95% CI 0.0% to 4.4%) of recent former smokers switched to a high nicotine e-cigarette. Subjects who switched to e-cigarettes appeared to have a higher relapse rate than those who did not switch to e-cigarettes or other tobacco, although the difference was not statistically significant.

conclusionsSales increases in high nicotine e-cigarettes in 2017 did not translate to more smokers using these e-cigarettes to quit smoking. On average, using e-cigarettes for cessation in 2017 did not improve successful quitting or prevent relapse.

Indexed as

Electronic Nicotine Delivery SystemsSmoking CessationCohort StudiesHumansNicotineTobacco Use Cessation DevicesNicotineaddictioncessationelectronic nicotine delivery devicesSurveillance and monitoring

Identifiers

PMID35131948
PMCPMC10423520
OpenAlexW4210870392

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.