Wales: high hopes for vaping as a quitting aid
E
-cigarettes are the most popular
tool among Welsh adults to help
them quit smoking, according to new
official figures.
This is one of the key findings of the 2018-19
National Survey for Wales on adult smoking and e-
cigarette use, carried out by the UK Office for
General Statistics in November and based on 5,900
interviews conducted between April 2018 and
March 2019.
The survey found that nearly five out of ten smok-
ers who tried to quit in the past year had used e-cig-
arettes, followed by nicotine patches and inhalers
(22%).
Smokers accounted for 17% of the adult population
surveyed, and of those, almost half (45%) had tried
to give up the habit in the past year.
In 2018-19, 6% of adults reported currently using e-
cigarettes, equating to approximately 150,000 peo-
ple. This is a stable trend if compared with 2016-17,
when the survey estimated the vaping population
at 7%.
Of all the vaping users, 50% are smokers and 49%
ex-smokers, with only a residual percentage of re-
spondents approaching e-cigarettes for the first
time having never smoked before.
The most common reason for using e-cigarettes
among current users was to help stop smoking to-
bacco (76%); other common reasons were because
they were perceived to be less harmful than tobacco
(36%) or cheaper than tobacco (34%), and to reduce
tobacco used (31%).
Only 1% of people surveyed said they had taken up
e-cigarettes because they’d been attracted by
advertising.
Among the adults surveyed, the percentage of com-
bined smokers and ex-smokers was higher among
65-74-year-olds, followed by the 35-44 age group.
The Tobacco Control Action Plan for Wales set out a
vision of a smoke-free society for Wales, with an
aim of reducing adult smoking prevalence levels in
Wales to 16% by 2020.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Wales CEO
Suzanne Cass welcomed the figures and said that e-
cigarettes are proving to be “a vital weapon”
against traditional tobacco.
In the past year, nearly half
of attempts at quitting
had involved e-cigarettes
“The fact that so many Welsh smokers are switch-
ing from tobacco to vaping proves just how popular
this quit-smoking tool is and what an opportunity
there is to reach the remaining 30% of smokers that
have yet to give it a try,” she said.
The bottom line is that although e-cigarette
consumption in Wales seems to be stable in com-
parison with the last survey, e-cigarettes are one of
the country’s favourite smoking cessation tools.
Of course, it is yet to be seen if Wales will achieve
the target of 16% smoking prevalence by next year.
But with 17% of Welsh adults currently smoking,
there is not too far for the principality to go in
achieving its goals.
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