New review: E-cigarettes: Use, Effects on Smoking, Risks, and Policy Implications

David Bareham and I just published “E-Cigarettes: Use, Effects on Smoking, Risks, and Policy Implications” in Annual Review of Public Health.  The review, which includes 151 references, is a comprehensive overview of all aspects of e-cigarettes, including an updated meta-analysis on the association between e-cigarette use and smoking cessation (still shows depressed quitting overall).

Here is the abstract:

Since e-cigarettes appeared in the mid-2000s, some practitioners, researchers, and policy makers have embraced them as a safer alternative to conventional cigarettes and an effective way to stop smoking. While e-cigarettes deliver lower levels of carcinogens than do conventional cigarettes, they still expose users to high levels of ultrafine particles and other toxins that may substantially increase cardiovascular and noncancer lung disease risks, which account for more than half of all smoking-caused deaths, at rates similar to conventional cigarettes. Moreover, rather than stimulating smokers to switch from conventional cigarettes to less dangerous e-cigarettes or quitting altogether, e-cigarettes are reducing smoking cessation rates and expanding the nicotine market by attracting youth.

The page review in advance is online at https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040617-013757. (Changes may still occur before final publication.)  Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health Volume 39 is April 1, 2018. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.