E-Cigarette Use Among Adolescents and Young Adults Presents Challenges for General Practitioners

A new study reveals that general practitioners in the UK rarely inquire about e-cigarette use among adolescents and young adults, despite the growing public health concern. The research, conducted by Imperial College London, aimed to explore the perceptions and practices of GPs towards vaping in young people. The study found that only 23.9% of GPs ask about e-cigarette use, despite 85.6% believing it is important to do so.

Key Takeaways:

• General practitioners in the UK rarely inquire about e-cigarette use among adolescents and young adults, with only 23.9% asking about it, despite 85.6% believing it is important to do so.
• Common reasons for not inquiring about e-cigarette use include lack of time, relevance to the presenting complaint, and method for quantifying and documenting e-cigarette use.
• GPs provide advice to e-cigarette users at a low rate of 27.5%, likely due to low rates of confidence and a lack of training and resources.
• Only 12.3% of GPs have high confidence in advising on e-cigarette use, indicating a need for change in guidelines and policy.
• There were no significant variations in responses based on respondents' location or level of experience.

Statistics:

• 23.9% of GPs rarely inquire about e-cigarette use among adolescents and young adults.
• 85.6% of GPs believe it is important to ask about e-cigarette use.
• 27.5% of GPs provide advice to e-cigarette users.
• 12.3% of GPs have high confidence in advising on e-cigarette use.
• 284 responses were collected from GPs across the UK from March to August 2024.

Sources:

• NewsRx. Perceptions and practices of UK general practitioners towards youth vaping: a questionnaire-based study. BJGP Open, 2025.
• NewsRx. New Findings on Health and Medicine from Imperial College London Summarized (Perceptions and practices of UK general practitioners towards youth vaping: a questionnaire-based study). Health & Medicine Week. August 22, 2025; p 3339.