Survey Reveals US Physicians are Misinformed about Nicotine

A study amongst US physicians across 6 specialities were examining whether or not patients are being bettered informed about the primary risks of nicotine and its correlation to health concerns.

Nicotine is Not The Cause

It’s important to note that nicotine is responsible for it’s ability to make tobacco products highly addictive, not a direct cause of tobacco-caused diseases.

Essentially nicotine is not the direct reason for diseases like cancer or heart disease it’s instead other substances, like chemicals, tar in tobacco or tobacco smoke, that are the leading reasons for diseases.

That means that there’s a possibility that for many smokers wanting to quit and transition into vaping or other tobacco-alternatives, the primary care physician might misinform their patients about their options.

Survey Results of Physicians

A surprising amount of physicians misperceived that nicotine is directly responsible for smoking-related health risks. The survey stated, “the majority of physicians ‘strongly agreed’ that nicotine directly contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease (83.2%), COPD (80.9%), and cancer (80.5%).”

If you look at Table 1 provided by the survey, you can see the results summarized.

The overall majority of physicians (83.2%) “strongly agreed” that nicotine directly, keyword, contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease.

Females had a higher percentage to identify that nicotine’s direct risk were birth defects.

The Final Verdict

Finding alternatives for quitting cigarettes is a driving force for many towards vape. It is the ability to take back control over your life. While the path to being tobacco free is a long road, it's crucial that consumers are given factual information out there to give them their best options in choosing what they want.  

Reachers are hoping for there to be better education, “It is vital that physicians understand the actual risk of nicotine given that they are critical in prescribing and recommendation of FDA-approved NRT products.”