VAPING is linked to a “significant increase” in the number of people ­quitting fags, say experts.

The soaring popularity of vaping has been linked to a sharp rise in smokers quitting the habit.

3 E-cigarette smokers are nearly twice as likely to quit smoking for at least three months compared to fag smokers Credit: Alamy

Sixty-five per cent of e-cigarette users have tried to give up compared with 40 per cent of fag smokers, according to new research.

And they are almost twice as likely to succeed for at least three months.

Around 350,000 people in the US quit smoking 2014-15 due to vaping, said the University of California study.

The study suggested that vaping has a positive impact on smoking rates by acting as a nicotine replacement therapy.

But others argue that vaping could reduce the urgency to quit smoking.

Professor Shu-Hong Zhu of the University of California, who conducted the study, said: "This analysis presents a strong case that e-cigarettes played an important role in the increasing smoking cessation rate."

3 Professors at The University of California say the study suggests governments should be more lenient over e-cigarette use Credit: Getty Images - Getty

Professor Zhu and his team of researchers set out to examine whether the increase in use of e-cigarettes in the US was associated with a change in overall rates of people quitting smoking.

They based their findings on five population surveys dating from 2001 to 2015.

E-cigarette users were identified from the most recent survey, in 2014-15, and smoking cessation rates were obtained from those who reported smoking cigarettes 12 months before the survey.

Rates from this survey were then compared to four earlier surveys.

Of 161,054 respondents to the 2014-15 survey, 22,548 were current smokers and 2,136 recent quitters.

Among them almost half of those who had recently quit had tried e-cigarettes.

The overall population quit rate for 2014-15 was "significantly higher" - from 4.5 per cent to 5.6 per cent - than that for 2010-11, and higher for all other years.

3 The overall population tobacco quit rate for 2014-15 was "significantly higher" than previous years Credit: Getty Images

Professor Zhu and his team said the study found that in 2014-15, e-cigarette users attempted to quit cigarette smoking and succeeded in quitting smoking at higher rates than non-users.

Prof Zhu said: "Other interventions that occurred concurrently, such as a national campaign showing evocative ads that highlight the serious health consequences of tobacco use, most likely played a role in increasing the cessation rate.

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"But this analysis presents a strong case that e-cigarette use also played an important role.

"These findings need to be weighed carefully in regulatory policy making and in the planning of tobacco control interventions."

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In an accompanying editorial, Christopher Bullen, Professor of Public Health at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, said: "In light of this evidence, policymakers in countries contemplating a more restrictive approach to the regulation of e-cigarettes should pause to consider if pursuing such a course of action is the right thing to do for population health."

He said the findings of the American study "mount a convincing case for why the two most likely candidates - a large federal tobacco tax increase in 2009 and a nationwide mass media campaign - could not be stand-alone reasons for the change in cessation rates."

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