title: E-cigarette awareness, use, and harm perceptions in Italy: a national representative survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Only a few studies have provided information on awareness, use, and harm perceptions of e-cigarettes in Europe. We fill the knowledge gap in Italy.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from a face-to-face survey conducted in 2013 of a sample of 3,000 individuals, representative of the Italian population aged ≥15 years (51.1 million inhabitants).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Awareness of e-cigarettes was 91.1%; it was lowest among women (87.8%), the elderly (78.4%), those with less education (84.1%), and never-smokers (89.0%). Ever e-cigarette use was 6.8% overall and was inversely related to age, whereas no significant difference was observed according to sex. With regard to smoking status, 2.6% of never-smokers, 7.0% of ex-smokers, and 20.4% of current smokers tried the e-cigarette at least once. Regular e-cigarette use was 1.2% overall, 1.5% among men, and 0.9% among women, and it was highest among young (2.4%) and current smokers (3.7%). Among 36 e-cigarette regular users, 22.0% did not change their smoking habit, 67.7% reduced traditional cigarette consumption, and 10.4% quit smoking.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After fewer than 3 years from the opening of the first Italian e-cigarette shop, more than 45 million Italians have heard about e-cigarettes, 3.5 million have tried e-cigaretts, and more than 600,000 Italians regularly use e-cigarettes. Three out of 4 e-cigarette users reported to have favorably modified their smoking habit; however, 90% of users did not quit smoking as a consequence of starting vaping e-cigarettes. Almost 900,000 Italian never-smokers, particularly young never-smokers, have tried this new and potentially addictive product at least once.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Milan, Italy; silvano.gallus@marionegri.it.
authors.forename: Silvano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gallus
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy;
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lugo
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pacifici
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pichini
authors.affiliation: Istituto DOXA, Worldwide Independent Network/Gallup International Association, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Colombo
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Milan, Italy;
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Garattini
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy;
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: La Vecchia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001364:Awareness; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D066300:Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult