SynthesisAddiction (Abingdon, England)2025
Electronic cigarettes and subsequent cigarette smoking in young people: A systematic review.
Synthesis in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 5 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
24 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Interventions to prevent or cease electronic cigarette use in children and adolescents.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Electronic cigarettes and subsequent cigarette smoking in young people: A systematic review.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions for smokeless tobacco use cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- "Cannabis Green Wave" versus "Nicotine Freeze": the regulatory paradox of cannabis liberalization and nicotine prohibition.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Measured and modelled nicotine emissions predict systemic nicotine exposure across sub-ohm and pod-based ENDS.Tobacco control · 2026Article
- The Lifetime Mortality Implications of Vaping and Smoking Initiated During Adolescence.American journal of preventive medicine · 2026Article
- New Zealand's accelerating smoking decline: lessons for tobacco harm reduction.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2026Review
- Supporting policymakers with a decision aid to evaluate the impact of e-cigarette flavour restrictions.Health research policy and systems · 2026Article
- Article
- Effects of E-Liquid Formulations on Nicotine Vapor Pressure and Implications for Nicotine Delivery and Toxicity.Toxics · 2026Article
- Neural Predictors of Vaping: Covert Emotional Engagement Versus Reactance to Overt Emotional Appeals in Vaping Prevention Message Processing.American journal of preventive medicine · 2026Article
- To regulate vaping we need pragmatic, evidence-based policy.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Characterizing reasons for e-cigarette use among Filipino adults who smoke: A cross-sectional study.Tobacco prevention & cessation · 2026Article
- Exploring the potential consequences of the disposable vape ban in the UK: A qualitative study with young adults who use disposable vapes.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Unreliable evidence from problematic risk of bias assessments: Comment on Begh et al., 'Electronic cigarettes and subsequent cigarette smoking in young people: A systematic review'.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Tracking the course of vaping and cigarette smoking across adolescence: the Child to Adult Transition Study.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2025Article
- E-Cigarettes in Historical Context-Innovation, Risk, and Regulation.JAMA health forum · 2025Article
- Analysis of the Dual Use of Electronic Cigarettes and Conventional Tobacco According to the Survey on Alcohol and Other Drugs in the General Population in Spain (EDADES 2022).International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimsTo assess the evidence for a relationship between the use of e-cigarettes and subsequent smoking in young people (≤29 years), and whether this differs by demographic characteristics.
methodsSystematic review with association direction plots (searches to April 2023). Screening, data extraction and critical appraisal followed Cochrane methods. Our primary outcome was the association between e-cigarette use, availability or both, and change in population rate of smoking in young people. The secondary outcomes were initiation, progression and cessation of smoking at individual level. We assessed certainty using Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE).
resultsWe included 126 studies. For our primary outcome, there was very low certainty evidence (limited by risk of bias and inconsistency) suggesting that e-cigarette use and availability were inversely associated with smoking in young people (i.e. as e-cigarettes became more available and/or used more widely, youth smoking rates went down or, conversely, as e-cigarettes were restricted, youth smoking rates went up). All secondary outcomes were judged to be very low certainty due to very serious risk of bias. Data consistently showed direct associations between vaping at baseline and smoking initiation (28 studies) and smoking progression (5 studies). The four studies contributing data on smoking cessation had mixed results, precluding drawing any conclusion on the direction of association. There was limited information to determine whether relationships varied by sociodemographic characteristics.
conclusionAt an individual level, people who vape appear to be more likely to go on to smoke than people who do not vape; however, it is unclear if these behaviours are causally linked. Very low certainty evidence suggests that youth vaping and smoking could be inversely related.
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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.