Even though electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) have been around since 2004, it’s still slightly jarring to see someone smoking indoors when cigarettes are mostly banned from enclosed public spaces. That’s just one example on how e-cigs have shaped the way we view smoking, but could e-cigs actually be the first step in ditching the habit for good? Some statistics are starting to see a growing trend.

What are E-Cigs?

E-cigs have a few different names and come in a few different variants. There are e-cigs, vaporizers, and electronic nicotine delivery systems. No matter the name, they all set out to have the same effect: stimulate the feeling of smoking.

One of the biggest differences between a cigarette and an e-cig boils down to what’s inhaled. E-cig users inhale aerosol rather than smoke. There is a heater that atomizes a liquid solution, which contains propylene glycol, glycerin, water, nicotine, and various flavors.

A sensor inside the e-cig detects when a user is taking a drag, the heater vaporizes the nicotine held in a cartridge, a microprocessor controls the heater, an LED lights up when the user takes a drag, and it’s all powered by a battery.

Statistics Show That there are 2.5 Million E-Smokers

Accelerated Nursing put together an infographic to help highlight a few growing trends that have emerged from the latest e-cig fad.

Before diving into the nitty gritty, it should be known that while some initial studies show e-cigs to be healthier than smoking traditional cigarettes, they still have yet to be fully studied. According to the FDA’s website, researchers still don’t know all of the intended risks when using e-cigs, how much nicotine is being inhaled, and whether or not there are any real benefits to using them.

Drawing Conclusions from Statistics

According to the Accelerated Nursing infographic, there are currently 45 million smokers in the United States and there are an estimated 2.5 million e-smokers. From the pool of e-smokers, 62 percent of the users said that they’ve stopped smoking regular cigarettes (or cut back) since they started smoking e-cigarettes. Of those, 34.3 percent reported that they not only quit smoking cigarettes but also discontinued the use of e-cigs.

So, if initial reports are to be believed, these statistics show a trend of e-cigarettes having a positive effect on users who make the switch from regular to electronic. However, with there being more than 40 million people who are still using traditional cigarettes, there is still a lot of ground to cover.

Somewhat surprisingly, the majority of e-cig users are female, making up 60.5 percent of the pool while males make up the remaining 39.5 percent. And, not surprisingly, southern states make up the majority of users with 33 percent while the northeast states only make up 19 percent.

Unfortunately, Accelerated Nursing doesn’t give any demographic information regarding the statistics that revolve around how e-cigs help smokers quit, so while the infographic certainly insinuates that they could be an incremental step in helping someone quit for good, further study needs to be done in order to definitively say it actually works.

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