Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are increasingly used in adolescents with unknown impacts on conventional cigarette smoking. We examined the associations of e-cigarette use with smoking intention, nicotine addiction and smoking cessation in Chinese adolescents.

A total of 45,128 students (age 14.6 ± 1.9; boys 51.4%) from 75 randomly selected schools in Hong Kong reported e-cigarette use (in the past 30 days), conventional cigarette use and socio-demographic characteristics in an anonymous questionnaire survey. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) of intention to smoke, morning smoking urge, intention to quit and quit attempts; and beta-coefficient (β) of cigarette consumption per day were calculated in relation to e-cigarette use.

E-cigarette use was associated with intention to smoke with an AOR (95% CI) of 1.74 (1.30–2.31) in all students, 2.18 (1.12–4.23) in never and 2.79 (2.05–3.79) in ever smokers (non-significant interaction by smoking status). The associations were also significant in experimental and former smokers but not in current smokers. In current smokers, e-cigarette use was significantly associated with heavier smoking (β 2.54, 95% CI 1.28–3.81) and morning smoking urge (AOR 2.54, 95% CI 1.50–3.11), and non-significantly associated with lower quit intention (0.76, 0.52–1.09) and attempts (0.80, 0.56–1.23).

E-cigarette use was associated with smoking intention in never, experimental and former smokers in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. In current smokers, e-cigarette use was associated with nicotine addiction but not quit intention and attempts. Prospective studies with detailed measurements on e-cigarette use are warranted for further studies.