Long-term health risks of e-cigarettes after smoking cessation

An invited News & Views article by a researcher from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in relation to a new study on the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) after smoking cessation and lung cancer risk has been published in Nature Medicine. Dr Mahdi Sheikh of the Early Detection, Prevention, and Infections Branch at IARC collaborated with Dr Pamela M. Ling of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education and the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (USA) to write this article, which provides context to a recent study by Kim et al. on data from the Republic of Korea relating to 4.5 million ever-smokers.

The study by Kim et al. classified participants as current smokers, quitters with e-cigarette use, and quitters without e-cigarette use, and examined the association between post‑cessation e‑cigarette use and subsequent lung cancer risk and mortality. The results suggest that e-cigarette use after smoking cessation may attenuate the benefits of quitting in reducing lung cancer risk and mortality.

The News & Views article is an essential companion piece to the study and highlights some of the strengths, limitations, and important knowledge gaps that must be filled to more judiciously evaluate the long-term health effects of e-cigarette use after smoking cessation, including any potential impact on cancer risk.

Sheikh M, Ling PM.
Long-term health risks of e-cigarettes after smoking cessation
Nat Med. Published online 22 June 2026;
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04470-y

Read the News & Views article 

Read the article by Kim et al.: “Electronic cigarette use after smoking cessation and lung cancer risk”