E-cigarette Product Characteristics and Subsequent Frequency of Cigarette Smoking
Jessica L. Barrington‐Trimis, Zhi Yang, Sara J. Schiff, Jennifer B. Unger, Tess Boley Cruz, Robert Urman, Junhan Cho, Jonathan M. Samet, Adam M. Leventhal, Kiros Berhane, Rob McConnell
Abstract
BACKGROUND: There is a dearth of evidence regarding the association of use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) with certain product characteristics and adolescent and young adult risk of unhealthy tobacco use patterns (eg, frequency of combustible cigarette smoking), which is needed to inform the regulation of e-cigarettes. METHODS: = 1312). We evaluated the association of binary categories of 3 nonmutually exclusive characteristics of the e-cigarette used most frequently with the number of cigarettes smoked in the past 30 days at 1-year follow-up. Product characteristics included device (vape pen and/or modifiable electronic cigarette [mod]), use of nicotine in electronic liquid (e-liquid; yes or no), and use for dripping (directly dripping e-liquid onto the device; yes or no). RESULTS: Relative to never e-cigarette users, past-30-day e-cigarette use was associated with greater frequency of past-30-day cigarette smoking at follow-up. Among baseline past-30-day e-cigarette users, participants who used mods (versus vape pens) smoked >6 times as many cigarettes at follow-up (mean: 20.8 vs 1.3 cigarettes; rate ratio = 6.33; 95% confidence interval: 1.64-24.5) after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, baseline frequency of cigarette smoking, and number of days of e-cigarette use. After adjustment for device, neither nicotine e-liquid nor dripping were associated with frequency of cigarette smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Baseline mod users (versus vape pen users) smoked more cigarettes in the past 30 days at follow-up. Regulation of e-cigarette device type warrants consideration as a strategy to reduce cigarette smoking among adolescents and young adults who vape.