Association of Vaping-Related Events with Relative Harm Perceptions of E-Cigarettes

作者：Alexander Wu, Sumin Son, Matthew Lee, Sandi L. Pruitt, Chul Ahn, David S. Balis, John D Minna, C. George Thomas, David E. Gerber · 发表于：Nicotine & Tobacco Research · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1093/ntr/ntag024 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Smoking Behavior and Cessation、Behavioral Health and Interventions、Risk Perception and Management

INTRODUCTION: Although electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have demonstrated efficacy for quitting combustible cigarette smoking, they also convey inherent risks. How the public views e-cigarettes and their potential harm may influence how e-cigarettes are used. We therefore evaluated perceptions of e-cigarettes over a recent 10-year period. METHODS: Longitudinal data from a multiyear cross-sectional nationally representative survey, Health Information National Trends Survey, were analyzed to assess changes in perceptions of e-cigarettes' harm relative to cigarettes and factors affecting perceptions among US adults from 2012 to 2022. We used interrupted time series regression analysis to determine possible associations with key public health events. RESULTS: A total of 20 771 survey respondents were included in the analysis. From 2012 to 2022, the proportion perceiving e-cigarettes as more harmful than combustible cigarettes increased from 2.8% (95% CI, 1.8%-3.9%) to 30.4% (95% CI, 28.2%-32.7%). Likewise, perceptions of e-cigarettes as less harmful decreased from 50.7% (95% CI, 47.6%-53.9%) to 16.7% (95% CI, 14.9%-18.6%). Perceptions changed significantly following the national rollout of anti-vaping campaigns (p < .001) and the e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury outbreak (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Public perceptions of e-cigarettes have shifted markedly over the past decade, with increasing proportions of US adults viewing e-cigarettes as more harmful th...