SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2023
Systematic Review and Critical Analysis of Longitudinal Studies Assessing Effect of E-Cigarettes on Cigarette Initiation among Adolescent Never-Smokers.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The impacts of e-cigarette flavours: An overview of systematic reviews.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Comparison of Elicit AI and Traditional Literature Searching in Evidence Syntheses Using Four Case Studies.Cochrane evidence synthesis and methods · 2025Article
- Vaping cessation strategies and triggers for relapse amongst people from New Zealand who have vaped.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Review
- The "Gateway" hypothesis: evaluation of evidence and alternative explanations.Harm reduction journal · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Prospective longitudinal studies mainly conclude on a causal role of e-cigarettes in the initiation of cigarettes in flagrant contradiction with conclusions drawn from epidemiology and other studies showing a sharp decline in cigarette use in parallel with the spread of e-cigarette use. This systematic review explores the reasons for this discrepancy.
methodsAmong 84 publications on e-cigarette/cigarette association in adolescents identified in the Medline database from 2011 to 2022, 23 concern 22 never-smoker longitudinal sub-cohorts.
resultsA link between e-cigarette experimentation at T1 and cigarette initiation at T2 is reported in sub-cohort analyses of never-smokers (AOR: 1.41 to 8.30). However, studies exclude 64.3% of T1 e-cigarette experimenters (because of dual-use) and 74.1% of T2 cigarette experimenters. With this study design, e-cigarettes contribute only to 5.3% of T2 cigarette experimentation, casting major doubt on the external validity of results and authors' conclusions that e-cigarettes have a significant effect on the initiation of cigarettes (
conclusionsWhile nicotine abstinence remains the best medical option, over-regulation of e-cigarettes because of misinterpretation of longitudinal study results may be detrimental to public health and tobacco control.
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Registered trials
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