The INPES (National Institute for Prevention and Education for Health) has just made public, yesterday, a study on the use of electronic cigarettes in France, which is developing more and more if we simply to the shops that are popping up everywhere (the market is estimated at more than 2 billion dollars a year!).
For 1 year, Inpes conducted the survey on a large sample in order to better understand the usefulness of electronic cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid.
No surprise, it turns out that the gesture is preserved with the e-cigarette, but on the other hand, you were probably unaware that, according to its characteristics, the electronic cigarette is classified by the Afssaps (French Agency for the Health Safety of products), either as an everyday consumer product (no nicotine), or as a medicine (if it contains nicotine).
The Inpes study confirms the enthusiasm of the French for these e-cigarettes:99% of French people know it, which undoubtedly justifies the introduction of the verb "vapoter" in the Larousse and Robert 2015!
There are, for its use, only 26% of 15-75 year olds who have tested it, 6% of vapers (including 3% of daily vapers). As for the typical profile of the vaper, the study describes him as rather young, masculine and with a level of diploma less than or equal to the baccalaureate...in the end quite close to that of smokers.
The age of use of the electronic cigarette is 4 months on average, in 2014:47% used it for less than 3 months and 9% for more than a year.
And where do we vape then? 84% vape at home, 77% outside, 36% at work, 27% inside restaurants, bars, cafes, nightclubs, 5% at school and 0.1% in the car.
We note that the electronic cigarette is much more attractive for smokers since 86% of vapers use electronic cigarettes with nicotine and 98% of vapers are or have been smokers, not to mention that approximately 24% of smokers have never used it. declare that they intend to do so.
Let's not forget that a smoker is addicted to nicotine, so the e-cigarette does not deprive him of his addiction:three quarters of vapers claim to use the electronic cigarette as a substitute for the ordinary cigarette.
In addition, the cost of the electronic cigarette is lower than that of normal cigarettes:71% of vaping smokers and 66% of ex-vaping smokers intend to save money in this way.
And then, 66% of vaping smokers and 80% of ex-vaping smokers made this choice thinking that the "electronic version" was less bad for their health.
The legislation related to its use being currently less strict than for the ordinary cigarette which is prohibited in public places, this gives an additional attraction to the e-cigarette, with also respect for others or even the taste or the simple curiosity.
For many, especially vaping smokers, the electronic cigarette is seen as an aid to quitting smoking:88% of them believe that it allows them to reduce the number of ordinary cigarettes smoked (and 82% that it might help them quit smoking); 82% of them claim that it has enabled them to reduce their tobacco consumption by 8.9 cigarettes per day and 68% say they want to quit smoking, compared to 54% of non-vaping smokers.
Smokers-vapers are therefore more motivated than their "simple-smokers" counterparts to quit tobacco.
(photo:Inpes)
