Vaping among never-smokers increases seven-fold

One million adults in England who have never regularly smoked cigarettes are now vaping, a study has found.

It is a seven-fold increase since 2021, with most of them vaping daily and over a sustained period, researchers from University College London have found.

The trend is largely driven by young adults, they reported in The Lancet Public Health, with an estimated one in seven 18-24-year-olds (14%) who never regularly smoked now using e-cigarettes.

It comes as the latest data published by the Office for National Statistics shows the lowest proportion of adults have smoked since their surveys more than a decade ago.

Around six million people aged 18 years and over smoked cigarettes in the UK in 2023, equating to 11.9% compared with 20.2% in 2011.

Data from the Smoking Toolkit Study, an ongoing survey that interviews a different representative sample of adults in England each month, they did find that the rise in vaping does seem to have levelled off since early 2023.

The analysis did point to certain risk factors in non-smokers who take up vaping with the sharpest increase in those classed as the heaviest drinkers, of whom 22% vaped

It could suggest vaping may be more common among people who would otherwise have gone on to smoke, the researchers said.

Overall, the profile of vapers had changed in recent years to be younger, include more women, and more were drinking at increasing or higher-risk levels, they said.

In 2023/24 68% of this group of people who had not regularly smoked, had vaped for more than a year. They were also more likely to use disposable devices and the highest-strength nicotine e-liquids, and to buy their products from supermarkets/convenience stores.

Lead author Dr Sarah Jackson from the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care said: ‘The public health impact of this substantial rise in vaping among people who have never regularly smoked will depend on what these people would otherwise be doing.

‘It is likely that some would have smoked if vaping were not an available option. In this case, vaping is clearly less harmful. However, for those who would not have gone on to smoke, vaping regularly over a sustained period poses more risk than not vaping.’

Senior author Professor Jamie Brown also added: ‘These findings are a reminder that action is required to try to minimise vaping among young people who have never previously smoked. However, a balancing act is required to avoid deterring smokers from using e-cigarettes to quit.

‘Banning disposables, as the UK Government currently plans, is unlikely to fix the issue as popular brands have already launched reusable products with very similar designs and prices.

‘A sensible next step would be to introduce stricter regulation around product appearance, packaging and marketing, as those are less likely to reduce the effectiveness of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation – unlike, for instance, flavour bans.’

Professor Peter Hajek, director of the health and lifestyle research unit at Queen Mary University of London said some people have genes and circumstances that lead them to like nicotine products.

‘Traditionally, they ended up smoking, but some are now discovering vaping without becoming smokers first. If vaping did not exist, they would be smoking.

‘The just-released figures from the Office for National Statistics show that UK smoking prevalence is under 12%, an all-time low. If much less risky alternatives are allowed to continue to compete with cigarettes, smoking (and heart disease, lung disease and cancers that it causes) will continue to decline as well. 

‘Efforts are needed to limit use of nicotine products in adolescents but if more adults (as well as adolescents) are taking up vaping instead of smoking it may in fact be good news.’