Tayside has the lowest success rate in people trying to quit smoking, new figures have revealed the third year in a row that the region has been bottom of the table.
Last year, 24.2% of people in Tayside who tried to stop smoking were successful after one month 11% less than the national average of 35.4%.
Since 2012, the rate has dropped by more than 7%, when 31.6% of people were successful in ending the habit.
Leigh-ann Will, who works in Vaporize in the Nethergate, believes that many are opting for electronic cigarettes over services offered by the health board.
She said: “I moved over to the e-cigarette and, almost straight away, I saw my health improve because I felt I was smoking less.
“A lot of people are opting for electronic cigarettes over more conventional treatment you get on the NHS and are seeing better results.”
Andrew Radley, consultant in public health at NHS Tayside, said: “I’m not sure of the reason, but people looking to quit are coming back and managing to stop smoking by the third or fourth time of trying.
“There is plenty of free advice and support out there and NHS Tayside tries to encourage as many people as they can to stop smoking.
“We are confident our trajectory of less than 5% of the population of Scotland smoking by 2030 will be achieved.”
Mr Radley said the use of electronic cigarettes could be a reason why Tayside’s figures have dipped.
“There is research which says the use of e-cigarettes is much healthier than smoking tobacco,” he said.
“Smoking tobacco causes a high number of deaths across the country and the less people doing it, whether it’s through NHS Tayside’s programmes or switching to e-cigarettes, the better it is for people’s health.
“When people move on to using e-cigarettes, in turn, they are not coming forward for smoking cessation treatments this means we cannot include these people in our stats.”