The surprising number of adults who both smoke and vape
There was a sharp rise in dual users in 2021 when disposable vapes saw a growth in popularity
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Your support makes all the difference.The number of adults in England who both smoke and vape has been revealed in a new study.
So-called ādual useā is often a ātransitional stateā when smokers are trying to quit smoking or cut down on their use, researchers from University College London (UCL) found.
The proportion of people both smoking and vaping has risen in recent years ā in 2016, some 3.5 per cent of adults in England were dual users of both cigarettes and vapes. This rose to 5.2 per cent in 2024, they found.
Thatās one in 20.
Researchers have been performing a series of questionnaires since 2016 to track smoking and vaping habits.
So far some 128,588 adults in England have taken part in the Smoking Toolkit Study.
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The latest analysis highlights how the proportion of smokers who also vaped was ārelatively stableā ā at around 19 per cent ā until mid-2021 when disposable vapes saw a bump in popularity.
In April 2024, this figure stood at 34 per cent, they found.
The greatest rise was in young adults, with almost three in five (59 per cent) of young smokers also vaping ā a leap from 19.6 per cent at the start of the study.
The findings suggest that dual use may be linked to some people smoking less and vaping more.
Over time the proportion of smokers who smoked daily and vaped occasionally halved from 32 per cent to 15 per cent, while the proportion vaping daily and smoking non-daily more than doubled from 8 per cent to 22 per cent.
This may be down to dual use among younger smokers who are more frequent vapers and less frequent smokers than older adults, the researchers said.
Nonetheless, the research team raised concerns that āmisconceptionsā around the harms of vapes may be hampering smokersā attempts to quit.
They found that daily vaping was more common among dual users who thought e-cigarettes were less/equally harmful as cigarettes, or were unsure.
āIn England, vaping prevalence has increased rapidly among adults who smoke since 2021, which was when disposable e-cigarettes started to become popular,ā the authors wrote in the journal Addiction.
āSince 2016, patterns of dual use have shifted away from more frequent smoking towards more frequent vaping.
āThis may be the result of increasing prevalence of dual use among younger adults, who are more likely than older dual users to smoke non-daily and vape daily.ā
Lead author Dr Sarah Jackson, from UCLās Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, said: āDual use of vapes and cigarettes is often a transitional state as people seek to quit smoking or reduce their smoking. Therefore, it is not necessarily bad for peopleās health over the long term, if it helps people move away from smoking.
āIn our study, we found a shift in the behaviour of dual users away from more frequent smoking to more frequent vaping. This may be good news, as dual users can reduce the harm they are exposed to by vaping more and smoking less.
āHowever, it is important that people quit smoking completely to get the full health benefits.ā
Some 44 per cent of dual users said they they believed that vapes were equally harmful or more harmful than cigarettes.
Senior author Professor Jamie Brown added: āAccurate messaging about the relative harms of smoking and vaping is needed so that people can make informed decisions about the products they are using.
āMass media campaigns should play a key role in this. Government investment in campaigns is critical to realising the potential of the smoke-free generation policy.ā
Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said: āAction is needed to ensure all dual users fully switch.
āToo many believe vaping is as harmful as smoking and donāt understand that completely switching will protect their health.
āGovernment should maintain investment in swap-to-stop scheme for vapes and counter these misperceptions through targeted communications.ā