Vaping Clinical Trials

Quit vaping trials. The largest group. Studies test medicines used for smoking (varenicline, nicotine replacement, bupropion) in people who vape, new drugs like cytisinicline, and text message, app, and counseling programs, often in teens and young adults specifically.

Health effects studies. Research measuring what vaping does to the lungs, heart, blood vessels, and immune system, often comparing people who vape, people who smoke, and people who do neither. Some enroll healthy young adults for a single visit with breathing tests and blood work.

Switching studies. Trials testing whether adults who smoke and switch to vaping reduce harm, and what happens to their health markers over time.

Product and nicotine studies. Research on how flavors, nicotine strength, and device type affect use and dependence, including studies of nicotine pouches, which became the second most used tobacco product among youth in 2024.

Prevention and youth studies. School and community programs to prevent young people from starting, and studies of how advertising and social media shape use.

Observational studies. Following people who vape over years to answer the long term questions nobody can answer yet. No treatment is given, and eligibility is usually broad.

Vaping studies sort people mainly by age and by what they want. Quit vaping trials enroll people who currently vape nicotine and want to stop, and many are built for teens and young adults, with parental consent required under 18. Health effects studies often enroll people who vape regardless of whether they want to quit, plus comparison groups of smokers and non users. Switching studies enroll adults who smoke cigarettes. Some trials exclude people who also use other tobacco products, and medication trials exclude certain health conditions. Eligibility always varies by study.

Nobody knows precisely. Coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath often improve within days to weeks of stopping, and lung irritation measures improve over months. Whether any long term damage occurs, and how much reverses, is exactly what health effects studies are trying to establish. The honest answer is that the body starts recovering quickly and the full picture is still being researched.

Some studies offer compensation for time and travel, and study related care is typically provided at no cost as part of a clinical trial. Compensation varies by trial and is always described during the informed consent process before you agree to anything.

Curious whether clinical trials pay participants? Here's how compensation actually works.

How Much do Clinical Trials Pay? Everything You Need to Know About Getting Paid For Clinical Trials

Identify your study. Use the filters to search vaping or e-cigarettes. Titles usually say whether the study is about quitting, health effects, or switching, and which age group it enrolls.

Check the setting. Many quit vaping studies run largely by phone, text, or app, with medicine mailed to you; health effects studies usually need one or more in person visits for breathing tests.

Complete the health profile. Click "Get started" to begin the 5-step application. Have three things ready: how often you vape and for how long, whether you also smoke or use other nicotine products, and whether you want to quit or are joining a health effects study. For anyone under 18, a parent or guardian completes the application.

Submit the application. A study coordinator reviews it and contacts you. Nothing is decided until you have gone through informed consent, and participation is voluntary at every step.