Apr 20, 2015 09:55 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that devices created to assist tobacco cessation don't really help smokers quit.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego found that smokers who used e-cigarettes were 49 percent less likely to decrease cigarette use and 59 percent less likely to quit smoking compared to smokers who never used e-cigarettes.

"Based on the idea that smokers use e-cigarettes to quit smoking, we hypothesized that smokers who used these products would be more successful in quitting," Wael Al-Delaimy, professor and chief of the Division of Global Public Health in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, said in a statement. "But the research revealed the contrary. We need further studies to answer why they cannot quit. One hypothesis is that smokers are receiving an increase in nicotine dose by using e-cigarettes."

Although e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco, users, known colloquially as "vapers," exhale a mixture of volatile organic compounds, heavy metals and ultrafine particles that usually contain aerosolized nicotine in a cloud of vapor.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from 1,000 California smokers over the course of one year. Based on the findings, researchers concluded that daily smokers and women were more likely to have tried e-cigarettes.

Delaimy said the study could inform the United States Food and Drug Administration and other regulators on the profile of e-cigarette usage among smokers as they create guidelines for e-cigarettes.

Earlier this year, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released the State Health Officer's Report on E-Cigarettes, a health advisory that addressed the health risks posed by the marketing, sale and use of e-cigarettes.

"There is a lot of misinformation about e-cigarettes," Ron Chapman, CDPH director and state health officer, said in a statement. "That is why, as the state's health officer, I am advising Californians to avoid the use of e-cigarettes and keep them away from children of all ages."

The findings are detailed in the American Journal of Public Health.

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