Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate electronic cigarette use in France with a special focus on its relationship with tobacco smoking.
Methods: The 2014 Health Barometer is a telephone survey of 15,635 individuals which provides a status update regarding electronic cigarettes use in France.
Results: In 2014, 25.7 % of 15-75-year-olds had tried e-cigarettes. Among these, 23.4 % were current vapers (6.0 % of 15-75-year-olds). Among vapers, about half were daily vapers (2.9 % of 15-75-year-olds). Smoking prevalence was high among those who vape: 83.1 % were smokers (74.7 % were daily smokers) and 15.0 % were former smokers. Four out of five vapers considered that they had reduced their cigarette consumption through e-cigarette use. Vaping ex-smokers represented 0.9 % of 15-75-year-olds, which are approximately 400,000 people. This figure represents an initial estimate of the number of smokers who have successfully stopped smoking, at least temporarily, thanks to e-cigarettes.
Conclusions: E-cigarettes in France were on the whole used by smokers. The e-cigarette could have helped several hundreds of thousands of individuals to quit smoking, at least temporarily.
Keywords: Cessation; Dual use; Electronic cigarette; Smoking; e-cigarette.