A randomized clinical trial shows teens are 35% more likely to quit vaping nicotine with an interactive, tailored text message program.

RT’s Three Key Takeaways:

  1. Increased Quit Rates: The interactive and tailored text message program, This is Quitting, increased the likelihood of teens quitting vaping nicotine, with a 35% higher quit rate compared to the control group.
  2. Effective Across Diverse Subgroups: The program showed strong effectiveness among key subgroups defined by race, ethnicity, gender, nicotine dependence, substance use, mental health challenges, and household dysfunction.
  3. No Transition to Smoking: The study found no evidence that teens who quit vaping through the program transitioned to smoking, addressing concerns about the potential shift from vaping to combustible tobacco products.

A new study demonstrates the effectiveness of an interactive and tailored text message program in helping adolescents quit vaping nicotine. 

The researchers say their study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first published randomized clinical trial of a quit vaping program among teens, filling a gap in the scientific literature and providing evidence for pediatricians, school administrators, and public health agencies.

Conducted from October 2021 to October 2023, the study involved 1,503 adolescents ages 13-17 from across the United States who reported past 30-day e-cigarette use and were interested in quitting. 

Increase in Quit Rates

Compared to a control group, participants who received the interactive text message program were 35% more likely to report not using nicotine at the seven-month study endpoint. Quit rates were 37.8% in the intervention groups compared to 28% in the control group.

“For many years, healthcare providers, teachers, and parents have been asking how to help teens quit vaping,” says Amanda Graham, chief health officer at Truth Initiative and principal investigator of the study, in a release. “Until today, we haven’t had data to tell us what works. This study is a critical breakthrough that demonstrates the power of a relatively simple technology in changing behavior. Text messages serve as powerful reminders of an initial commitment to quit and can deliver proven behavior change support right to a young person’s phone.”

Effectiveness Across Key Subgroups

Importantly, the researchers found strong evidence of the program’s effectiveness among key subgroups defined by race, ethnicity, gender, higher levels of nicotine dependence, smoking and other substance use, mental health challenges, and household dysfunction.

Researchers say these findings are especially important given the recent youth mental health crisis documented by the US Surgeon General. Adolescents in this study were characterized by high severity of past-year problems with depression, sleep, anxiety, trauma, and substance use. 

In addition, moderate to high levels of nicotine dependence were observed across multiple measures, with more than three-quarters (76.2%) of teens vaping within 30 minutes of waking—a common way to measure addiction.

Program Highlights and Future Directions

The text message intervention tested in this study is called This is Quitting, now part of the EX Program from Truth Initiative. Since This is Quitting launched as a text message program in 2019, more than 750,000 young people have enrolled from across the US. 

Grounded in clinical guidelines for treating tobacco dependence, This is Quitting incorporates messages from other young e-cigarette users who have offered their advice about how to quit. Teens and young adults can text DITCHVAPE to 88709 to receive free quit vaping support from the program.

There is no safe level of nicotine use among adolescents, and yet e-cigarettes remain the most commonly used tobacco product among young people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2023, more than 2.1 million adolescents reported current e-cigarette use (4.6% of middle school students and 10% of high school students), with many of them doing so frequently, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey. 

Interest in quitting vaping also remains high: 67% of 15- to 24-year-old e-cigarette users said they were considering quitting as a New Year’s resolution, according to a 2023 Truth Initiative survey.

No Transition to Smoking Observed

“We also did not see evidence that teens who quit vaping transitioned to smoking,” adds Graham in a release. “Additional analyses requested by the JAMA editorial team focused on use of combustible tobacco products since there is often a concern about transition between vaping and smoking. Even though This is Quitting does not explicitly address smoking, it was effective in reducing dual use (smoking and vaping) and keeping teens in this study from starting to smoke.”

This study builds on the findings of an earlier randomized clinical trial of This is Quitting conducted among roughly 2,600 young adults ages 18 to 24. Taken together, researchers say the studies provide strong evidence that an interactive, tailored text message program can help teens and their older peers break free from nicotine addiction.

Photo 321696017 © Katie Nesling | Dreamstime.com