Just over one in 20 adults in England both smoke and vape, according to a new study by UCL researchers.

The study, published in the journal Addictionlooked at survey data between 2016 and 2024. It found that the proportion of people both smoking and vaping rose from 3.5% (about one in 30) to 5.2% (about one in 20) during this period, with a sharp rise from 2021. , when disposable e-cigarettes first became popular.

The increase was greatest among young adults, with nearly two thirds of 18- to 24-year-olds who smoked also vaping in 2024 compared to one in five in 2016.

The research team also found that, among dual users, there had been a shift away from more frequent smoking to more frequent vaping, with the proportion smoking daily and vaping non-daily halving from 32% to 15%, while the proportion vaping daily and smoking non-daily more than doubled from 8% to 22%.

This might be down to the increase in dual use among young adults, who are more frequent vapers and less frequent smokers than older adults, the researchers said.

Lead author Dr. Sarah Jackson (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care) said, “Dual use of vapes and cigarettes is often a transitional state as people seek to quit smoking or reduce their smoking. Therefore, it is not necessarily bad for people’s health over the long term. , if it helps people move away from smoking.

“In our study, we found a shift in the behavior of dual users away from more frequent smoking to more frequent vaping. This may be good news, as dual users can reduce the harm they are exposed to by vaping more and smoking less.

“However, it is important that people quit smoking completely to get the full health benefits.”

For the study, researchers used data from the Smoking Toolkit Study, an ongoing survey that interviews a different representative sample of adults in England each month. They looked at data collected between 2016 and 2024 from 128,588 adults (18 and over) in England.

The team found that dual users who mistakenly believed that e-cigarettes were as harmful as or more harmful than cigarettes were less likely to vape daily. This is important, the researchers said, as vaping daily is linked to successfully quitting smoking, while non-daily vaping is not, so misperception of harms may be preventing these dual users from reducing or quitting smoking.

Nearly half of dual users (44%) wrongly believed that e-cigarettes were equally harmful or more harmful than cigarettes.

Senior author Professor Jamie Brown (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care) said, “Accurate messaging about the relative harms of smoking and vaping is needed so that people can make informed decisions about the products they are using. Mass media campaigns should play a key role in this. Government investment in campaigns is critical to realizing the potential of the smoke-free generation policy.”

Alizée Froguel, Cancer Research UK’s prevention policy manager, said, “Tobacco causes around 160 cases of cancer every day in the UK. If you smoke, the best thing you can do for your health is to stop completely.

“Research shows that legal vapes are far less harmful than tobacco and can help people quit for good. While it’s important that they’re accessible to people trying to stop smoking, they shouldn’t fall into the hands of children or be used by people who have never smoked. To help end cancers caused by tobacco, the government must provide sustained funding for stop smoking services.”

Despite the recent increases in daily vaping and non-daily smoking, the most common pattern of dual use overall remained daily smoking and daily vaping, reported by 45% of dual users in 2024. This pattern was more common among dual users who were older, less advantaged, mainly smoked hand-rolled cigarettes, and had stronger urges to smoke.

Non-daily smoking and daily vaping was more common among those who had been vaping for more than a year. This finding is consistent with the possibility that vaping, even outside of a formal quit attempt, may support people to transition away from smoking, the researchers said.

The NHS advises that vaping can help people to quit smoking and that, while vaping is less harmful than smoking, people who do not smoke should not vape.