Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Use and Cigarette Smoking Frequency and Intensity Among Young Adult Smokers
Menée aux Etats-Unis à partir des données d'une enquête réalisée en 3 vagues sur la période 2013-2016 et portant sur 1 096 jeunes fumeurs de cigarettes (âge : 18-24 ans), cette étude analyse l'association entre une utilisation de la cigarette électronique et les changements dans la fréquence ou l'intensité du tabagisme
The increased consumption of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), including e-cigarettes, among young adults in recent years raises the question of how ENDS may affect cigarette smoking and nicotine use among young adults. The study by Pearson et al investigates the association between ENDS use and changes in the frequency or intensity of cigarette smoking among US young adult ever smokers during a 1-year period. The study uses 3 yearly waves of Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study data. The study participants were 1096 ever cigarette smokers (aged 18-24 years) ENDS naive at wave 1 with complete data at wave 2 and wave 3. The study finds no statistically significant association between ENDS use at wave 2 and changes in wave 2 to wave 3 cigarette smoking frequency and intensity. The authors conclude that ENDS use was not associated with a decrease or increase in cigarette smoking among young adult ever smokers. The PATH Study is an ongoing, nationally representative (when weights are used) longitudinal cohort study of adults and youths in the US. It is relevant that all the wave 2 to wave 3 changes in cigarette smoking frequency and intensity reported in the study have positive values, implying increases in cigarette smoking frequency and intensity following ENDS use at wave 2. The increases were not statistically significant. Notably, the comparison between ENDS users for 6 or more days in the previous 30 days and never users indicated an increase of more than 44 cigarettes smoked during the previous 30 days, although it was not statistically significant. The authors decided not to use sampling weights in any of the analyses and estimates, which may be a source of lack of statistical significance for the changes in cigarette smoking.
JAMA Network Open 2020