Gender differences in relationships between sociodemographic factors and e-cigarette use with smoking cessation:...

There is conflicting evidence regarding whether men and women are equally likely to quit smoking. We assessed whether gender differences in smoking cessation varied between different sociodemographic groups and across e-cigarette use.

The 2014-15 cross-section of the Current Population Survey Tobacco Use Supplement was weighted to represent the US adult population of current/former smokers (N = 16 040). Log binomial models tested whether gender modified the relationships between race/ethnicity, education, income or e-cigarette use and 90-day smoking cessation in the past year.

Gender was not associated with cessation in adjusted models (RR = 0.97, CI: 0.85, 1.11). There were no statistically significant interactions between gender and sociodemographic covariates. Current e-cigarette use was associated with higher cessation (RR = 1.53, CI: 1.30, 1.81), and the association varied by gender (Interaction P = 0.013). While male e-cigarette users had a 15% predicted cessation in the past year (CI: 12, 18%), female users had a 9% predicted cessation (95% CI: 7, 11%). Probability of cessation for female e-cigarette users was not different from non-users.

These findings suggest that there are no gender differences in smoking cessation in the USA overall, or by sociodemographic groups. Current e-cigarette use is associated with higher likelihood of recent successful smoking cessation, particularly for men.