Online: CRUK-UCL Multidisciplinary Seminar Series

Abstract

E-cigarettes remain a controversial issue. Agendas influence interpretation of evidence and summaries of relevant literature often arrive at opposite conclusions. New studies are published almost daily and reviews tend to age quickly. The purpose of this seminar is to review key studies on the behavioural and health effects of e-cigarettes that have been published in the last 5 years, including work from our own group at the Department of Behavioural Science and Health.

Prof Brown will present the latest trends on the use of e-cigarettes by adults in England from the Smoking Toolkit Study. The Smoking Toolkit Study is a detailed household survey of a new nationally representative sample of approximately 1,700 adults each month designed to provide insights into population-wide influences on cigarette smoking, vaping and cessation. Cigarettes are an anachronism. A uniquely lethal but legal product that kills more than half of the people who use them as intended. A key issue in establishing whether e-cigarettes have a role in cancer prevention is whether they can help people to stop smoking cigarettes. To offer a judgment, this talk will triangulate evidence from randomised controlled trials, and individual-level and population-level observational studies.

Prof Shahab will examine the safety/risk profile of e-cigarettes. There has been considerable concern over the last year that e-cigarette use may lead to the development of pulmonary diseases due to the emergence of e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury (EVALI), in addition to other diseases linked to the potential exposure to harmful toxicants and carcinogens in users of e-cigarettes. This presentation will first address the issue of EVALI, covering likely mechanisms for its development, which appear unrelated to use of standard e-cigarettes. Latest research on relevant toxicant exposure and markers of pulmonary and cardiovascular effects will then be summarised, including evidence from both observational studies and experimental trials. This talk will critically evaluate methodological short-comings in this area to assess in how far concerns regarding the health effects, in particular in relation to cancer, associated with e-cigarette use are supported by the evidence.
 

Further information

• Prof Lion Shahab academic profile
• Prof Jamie Brown academic profile
• UCL Behavioural Science and Health