What smokers tell us about e-cigarettes

Authors:
Martin Dockrell, Ann McNeill and Indu Hari

Presenter:
Martin Dockrell
Director of Policy and Research, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), London, UK

Abstract
The 2008 report Beyond Smoking Kills asserted the need for the commercial development of pure nicotine products for long-term use as a replacement for smoking. In recent years a variety of nicotine inhaler devices have become available that mimic the appearance of cigarettes. This study examines smokers’ experiences and attitudes to e-cigarettes. Awareness and use of e-cigarettes was measured as part of the ASH/YouGov national survey 2010 (sample size 12,597). Focus groups with smokers who had used e-cigarettes and separately with smokers who had not, informed the development of an on-line survey of 1,380 smokers including 486 smokers who had used e-cigarettes. In the national survey 52% of smokers reported having heard of e-cigarettes but not tried them, 9% reported having tried e-cigarettes of whom 3% were still using them at the time of the survey. Relieving the desire to smoke and help in cutting down the number of cigarettes smokers were seen as key advantages, particularly among heavy smokers. However, only 23% of those who had tried e-cigarettes rated them as ‘satisfying’ or ‘very satisfying’. The data demonstrate a widespread interest among smokers for such products and highlight a variety of factors limiting the acceptability of products currently available.

Source of funding: Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation Department of Health

Declaration of interest: none

About the presenter
Martin joined ASH in 2007. By that time he had been working in health policy for 20 years across the NHS, local government and the voluntary sector. His interest in harm reduction dates back to the 1980s when he was involved in establishing a needle availability scheme. In 1992 he co-founded GMFA the gay health charity. He continues to volunteer for GMFA including as a volunteer quit group facilitator.