Safety/risk profile |
The safety/risk profile of e-cigarettes should be determined
both relative to smoking, to inform smokers about the relative
risks, and in absolute terms to inform never-smokers about
potential risks from adoption of use. |
Effectiveness on smoking cessation and reduction |
The intended use of e-cigarettes (from a public health
perspective) would be as smoking substitutes. Studies need to
assess their real-world effectiveness in this aspect as well as
any possible unintended consequences such as delaying or
hindering smoking cessation. |
Patterns of use by population subgroups |
Ideally, e-cigarettes should be used only by current and former
smokers. Their popularity among never-smoking adults needs to be
monitored. Additionally, monitoring use by adolescents is
important to determine how it affects smoking initiation and
prevalence at a young age, which is a major predictor of
long-term sustained smoking. |