Vaping Vs. Smoking: Long-term Effects, Benefits, And Risks

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Medical News TodaySubscribeVaping vs. smoking: Which is safer?

Medically reviewed by Fred Aleskerov, MD — Written by Jenna Fletcher — Updated on February 16, 2024

Which is safer?
Effects of smoking
Effects of vaping
Quitting
Cannabis
Summary

Both smoking and vaping have side effects and risks. The long-term health effects of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are not fully understood, but the science indicates they are not a safe alternative to smoking.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), many people believe that vaping is safer than smoking, but this is not necessarily the case. Mounting evidence suggests that vaping is dangerous.

Vaping involves breathing in an aerosol that contains several chemicals, including nicotine and flavoring, through an e-cigarette or vape. Vaping is growing in popularity among teenagers.

In this article, we discuss the risks of vaping versus smoking and consider the long-term effects and risks of both.

Is vaping better than smoking?

A man exhaling smoke from a vape at home. — Pekic/Getty Images

Neither smoking nor vaping is beneficial to human health. Based on the available evidence, smoking appears more harmful than vaping, but this does not mean that vaping is safe.

Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals. Hundreds of these chemicals are toxic, and around 70 cause cancer.

The AHA notes that while vaping liquids contain fewer contaminants than cigarettes, they are not entirely safe.

Risks of vaping

People who vape may be at risk of harm from:

Nicotine: E-cigarettes can contain a large dose of nicotine, a substance known to slow the development of brains in fetuses, children, and teens.
Dangerous chemicals: The liquid that creates the vapor is dangerous to adults and children if they swallow, inhale, or get it on their skin. Vaping also delivers toxins such as diacetyl, cancer-causing chemicals, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the lungs.
Lung injury: E-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) is a new phenomenon that occurs as a result of vaping. Most cases occur due to products that contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which comes from cannabis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), by early 2020, there had been around 2,800 cases of EVALI, with 68 of those resulting in death.

Learn more about the potential harm of vaping here.

Risks of smoking

Unlike vaping, which is relatively new, there are years of research to back up claims that smoking is damaging to health. According to the CDC, smoking causes:

damage to every organ in the body
more than 480,000 deaths a year in the United States
90% of all lung cancer deaths
about 80% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
an increased risk of developing health conditions, such as heart disease and stroke
an increased risk of death

Learn more about how smoking affects the body.

Long-term effects of smoking

Smoking has many long-term adverse effects on the body. The CDC reports that smoking:

reduces sperm count
increases the risk of pregnancy loss and congenital disabilities
increases the risk of cataracts
impairs immune system function
increases general inflammation
can cause cancer in nearly any part of the body, including the lungs, kidneys, and stomach
triggers asthma attacks
causes blockages in the veins and arteries
increases the risk of a stroke

Discover 11 tips to quit smoking.

Long-term effects of vaping

Research generally accepts that while vaping can harm the lungs and other bodily systems, its impact is much less than tobacco smoking.

However, a 2019 study into the long-term health effects of vaping found that people using e-cigarettes had a higher risk of respiratory disease than people who never smoked.

Vaping may:

damage the lungs
release free radicals, which promote cancer development, into the body
weaken the immune system
delay brain development in fetuses, children, and teenagers

Some people also report sustaining burns when recharging e-cigarettes due to defective batteries leading to explosions.

Quitting smoking and vaping

Health services in the United Kingdom say that vaping can be an effective tool for quitting smoking. Additionally, in 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permitted the marketing of three e-cigarette products, specifically citing their potential benefit in helping people quit smoking.

However, the CDC states that there is insufficient evidence to suggest vaping can help people quit smoking.

Using vapes to quit smoking

A 2021 study found that daily e-cigarette usage among tobacco smokers can increase the likelihood of quitting smoking eightfold. Researchers assessed data from the 2014–2019 Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, focusing on smokers who were not planning to quit smoking at the start of the period.

At the end of the survey, 28% of smokers using e-cigarettes daily had ceased smoking tobacco altogether, while 45.5% had ceased smoking tobacco daily.

However, researchers found that only daily e-cigarette use had a statistically significant effect on smoking cessation rates.

Of the participants who were not using e-cigarettes, only 5.8% had quit smoking altogether by the end of the survey, while 9.9% had stopped smoking daily.

Meanwhile, people who were smoking e-cigarettes non-daily had a 3.1% rate of quitting smoking and a 10.2% rate of cutting down to non-daily tobacco smoking.

A 2019 randomized control study also found that daily e-cigarette use leads to an almost doubled rate of smoking abstinence than other nicotine-replacement products after one year.

Addictive properties of smoking and vaping

Nicotine is highly addictive. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) states that around half of all smokers try to quit every year, while only 6% manage to do so.

A 2019 study suggests that nicotine-containing e-cigarettes may have a higher addiction potential than standard cigarettes among young adults.

Researchers noted that study participants using both types of cigarettes had a higher nicotine dependence in relation to e-cigarettes.

However, nicotine alone is relatively harmless, and switching from daily tobacco smoking to daily e-cigarette use can be an important step for people to stop smoking completely.

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Vaping vs. smoking weed

A person can use a vaping device to inhale THC. THC is the chemical in cannabis that produces a high.

According to a 2018 study examining infrequent cannabis smoking in adults, vaping THC produced stronger mind-altering effects than smoking a similar amount of weed.

As a result, vaping THC may produce a faster, stronger high, but it may also mean that people experience more adverse effects.

Summary

Vaping and smoking share similar negative effects on the body, such as damage to the lungs and increased cancer risk.

Researchers know more about the long-term effects of smoking than those of vaping. However, vaping products contain a great deal fewer harmful chemicals than cigarettes and can be an effective tool in quitting smoking altogether.

However, while vape products can reduce the amount of tar and other chemicals a person inhales, they can increase a person’s nicotine dependency.

Lung Cancer
Respiratory
Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Cancer / Oncology
Smoking / Quit Smoking

How we reviewed this article:

SourcesMedical News Today has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical journals and associations. We only use quality, credible sources to ensure content accuracy and integrity. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.

Bhatta DN, et al. (2019). Association of e-cigarette use with respiratory disease among adults: A longitudinal analysis.https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(19)30391-5/fulltext
Data and statistics. (2022).https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/index.htm
FDA permits marketing of e-cigarette products, marking first authorization of its kind for the agency. (2021).https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-permits-marketing-e-cigarette-products-marking-first-authorization-its-kind-agency
Hajek P, et al. (2019). A randomized trial of e-cigarettes versus nicotine-replacement therapy.https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa1808779
Is nicotine addictive? Tobacco, nicotine, and e-cigarettes research report. (2020).https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/tobacco-nicotine-e-cigarettes/nicotine-addictive
Is vaping better than smoking? (2018).https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/quit-smoking-tobacco/is-vaping-safer-than-smoking
Jankowski M, et al. (2019). E-cigarettes are more addictive than traditional cigarettes – A study in highly educated young people.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651627/
Kasza KA, et al. (2021). Association of e-cigarette use with discontinuation of cigarette smoking among adult smokers who were initially never planning to quit.https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2787453
Outbreak of lung injury associated with the use of e-cigarette, or vaping, products. (2021).https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html#what-we-know
Prochaska JJ, et al. (2019). Current advances in research in treatment and recovery: Nicotine addiction.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6795520/
Spindle TR, et al. (2018). Acute effects of smoked and vaporized cannabis in healthy adults who infrequently use cannabis: A crossover trial.https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2716990
Using e-cigarettes to stop smoking. (2019).https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/quit-smoking/using-e-cigarettes-to-stop-smoking/
Vaping rises among teens. (2019).https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2019/02/vaping-rises-among-teens

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Medically reviewed by Fred Aleskerov, MD — Written by Jenna Fletcher — Updated on February 16, 2024

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