E-cigarette and vapouriser usage (health and wellbeing needs in South Tyneside)
Level of need
- While the number of people vaping in Great Britain increased hugely between 2012 and 2017, from 700,000 to 2.9 million, growth has begun to slow with use of e-cigarettes remaining stable since late 2013[6].
- The use of e-cigarettes by adults in the UK has plateaued over the last few years at just under 3 million; around half of these have completely stopped smoking.
- Electronic cigarette use among current adult cigarette smokers in Great Britain (2010 - 2017)[7]. - See Fig 3 Vaping appendix
- Since 2013 surveys by YouGov have suggested that usage of electronic cigarettes and vapourisers are mainly confined to smokers and ex-smokers. The gap between current and former smokers has been closing, 51% of vapouriser usage in 2016 was by current smokers, compared to 65% in 2013. - See Fig 4 Vaping appendix
- There aren't any local prevalence estimates for vapouriser usage in adults; however, national usage in 2016 suggested that 5.6% of the adult population there could be around 6,700 vapers in South Tyneside, 3,400 current smokers, and 3,100 ex-smokers.
- The Annual Population survey estimated that 18.4% of South Tyneside adults are current smokers, this equates to around 21,980 adults. That means that 15.5% of current South Tyneside smokers also use an electronic-cigarette or vapouriser.
- The What About YOUth (WAY) Survey 2014 / 15 asked 15 year olds if they had ever tried or used electronic cigarettes.
- Nationally 18.4% of 15 year-olds said they had tried electronic cigarettes; the North East was significantly higher than this with 19.6%. South Tyneside has a lower, but statistically similar rate of 16.7%.
- The 2016 YouGov survey asked current smokers how harmful they thought e-cigarettes were in comparison to traditional cigarettes.
- Current Smokers were split into three categories:
- Current e-cigarette user
- Never e-cigarette user
- Ex e-cigarette user
- The survey suggests that current e-cigarette users are more likely to understand that e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes, with 70% of those respondents agreeing that e-cigarettes were either less harmful or a lot less harmful than traditional cigarettes.
- In contrast less than 40% of smokers that have never tried using an e-cigarette thought they were less harmful than traditional tobacco, while a quarter thought they were even more or equally harmful.
- This indicates that there are wide variations in the perceived harm of e-cigarettes, despite public health messages that they are significantly safer than smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes. - See Fig 5 Vaping appendix
