Tobacco Research / 22.09.2023

The FDA regulates the manufacturing and distribution of e-cigarette and vape products in the United States, but anti-vaping laws are still heavily dependent on each state. Concerns over vaping’s impact on health, especially for youth, led many states and regions to restrict access to vape and e-cigarette products. Unlike cigarette, vapes are harder to detect. This creates a challenge when enforcing no-vape policies and anti-vape laws. Vape smoke cannot be detected through a regular smoke detector. They also do not contain a smell the way that cigarette smoke does. Both challenges make it easier for people who vape to use their products discreetly, even when inside. Youth Vaping in the U.S.: A Cause for Concern  vaping-e-cig-smoking-tobaccoYouth vaping is on the rise. The 2022National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) reported that over 2.5 million youth in the U.S. use e-cigarettes. This epidemic has drawn serious health concerns across the United States. Aside from the nicotine’s addictive properties in e-cigarette and vape products, these products can also hinder brain development in youth and increase risks of cancer and lung disease. But, combatting the youth vaping issue has proved difficult. The youth attraction to flavored vaping products has contributed significantly to the vaping epidemic. It has even led to lawsuits, such as the JUUL settlement, in which vape and e-cigarette companies have been accused of using marketing tactics to make their products appeal to minors. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cannabis, Pharmacology, Tobacco Research / 08.03.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Philip Lazarus, PhD Boeing Distinguished Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences Professor, Dept of Pharmaceutical Sciences College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Washington State University Spokane, WA 99210   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Smoking and tobacco use remains a major health issue. Smokers use cigarette over the course of the day because the levels of nicotine, the addictive agent in cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, dimmish with time in the bloodstream due to the breakdown of nicotine by enzymes in the body. By inhibiting the breakdown of nicotine in smokers, one would expect that the levels of nicotine would remain higher after smoking a single cigarette, and that these individuals may not require lighting up another cigarette so quickly, reducing the number of cigarettes smoked over the course of a day. This could have a profound effect on reducing the overall harm incurred from smoking or from using other forms of tobacco. In a single previous study, smokers who used a CBD inhaler exhibited a 40% reduction in cigarette use. In addition, while cannabis users are often smokers, previous studies have indicated that they smoke less cigarettes than non-cannabis-using cigarette smokers. In previous studies published in 2021, we found that major cannabinoids present in cannabis like THC and CBD inhibit major metabolizing enzymes in our body, including several that are important in drug metabolism. We hypothesized that CBD and its major active metabolite, 7-hydroxy (OH)-CBD, may also be inhibiting one or more of the enzymes important in the metabolism (or breakdown) of nicotine. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, JAMA, Tobacco Research / 09.11.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Hongying Daisy Dai, PhD Professor and Associate Dean of Research The College of Public Health University of Nebraska Medical Center. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Tobacco use landscape has been changing in the United States with fewer combustible cigarette smokers and more e-cigarette and other emerging tobacco users. Nicotine concentration level is a key product characteristic of modern e-cigarette products and high-nicotine vaping devices have recently become available. This study seeks to examine whether biomarkers of exposure to tobacco-related toxicants have changed since 2013 among adult nicotine e-cigarette users, non-nicotine e-cigarette users, and cigarette smokers. (more…)
Author Interviews, NEJM, Pulmonary Disease, Tobacco Research, University of Michigan / 04.09.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Meilan K Han MD, MS Henry Sewall Professor of Medicine Professor of Internal Medicine and Section Head Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Medical School University of Michigan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In the NIH sponsored SPIROMICS study we demonstrated that symptomatic, tobacco exposed individuals have frequent exacerbations. Many of these individuals are treated with the same inhaled medications that have shown benefit in COPD, but we don’t have any evidence basis for this practice. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dental Research, NYU, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 10.03.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Scott Thomas, PhD Assistant Research Scientist, Department of Molecular Pathobiology and Fangxi Xu, Junior Research Scientist & Clinical Research Coordinator Department of Molecular Pathobiology NYU College of Dentistry  MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?  vaping-e-cig-smoking-tobaccoResponse: Cigarette smoking is one of the well-established causes of periodontitis, but the effect of using electronic cigarettes (e-cig), especially its long-term impact on periodontal health, is not yet clearly understood. Considering the increased popularity of e-cig use, especially among teenagers and young adults, and the known effect of high nicotine concentration in e-cigarette products, we conducted this clinical research to see if there were differences in periodontal health between e-cig users, traditional smokers, and nonsmokers. The study consisted of two visits, 6 months apart, where measures of oral and periodontal health were obtained. Our data showed significantly greater clinical attachment loss in the e-cigarette users and cigarette smokers than in the non-smokers at both study visits. In only e-cigarette users, we observed an over 0.2 mm average increase in the clinical attachment loss after 6 months.  (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research, UC Davis / 05.08.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John Pierce, PhD Professor Emeritus Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Moores Cancer Center Director for Population Sciences Co-leader of the Cancer Prevention program UC San Diego MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Graphic Warning Labels are to be implemented in the US in July 2022, depending on litigation. This will be about 10 years after they were first proposed.  Meanwhile, 120 other countries have implemented them already. The FDA states that their purpose for the warnings is to provide a constant reminder to smokers about the health consequences of smoking, not to force them to quit. In our study, 3 months of having cigarettes repackaged into graphic warning packs was associated with smokers thinking more about quitting and not getting as much pleasure out of their cigarettes.  However, thinking about quitting is only the first step to conquering a nicotine addiction. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JAMA, Lung Cancer, Smoking, USPSTF / 16.03.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John B. Wong, M.D. Chief Scientific Officer, Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs Chief of the Division of Clinical Decision Making Primary Care Clinician Department of Medicine Tufts Medical Center  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in the United States. More than 200,000 people are diagnosed with this devastating disease each year. Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, resulting in the vast majority of lung cancers in the United States. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Tobacco, Tobacco Research, UCLA / 09.03.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Brian P. Lee, MD, MAS Assistant Professor Clinical Medicine University of Southern Californi Keck School of Medicine Los Angeles, California MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with mental health stressors, including anxiety, loneliness, and social instability. We hypothesized the pandemic may have led to increased alcohol and tobacco use as a coping mechanism for these stressors. National retrospective questionnaires had suggested higher reports of substance use, but these are limited by selection and recall biases, in addition to subjective report – we sought to address this knowledge gap by using a nationally-representative longitudinal cohort (Nielsen National Consumer Panel) tracking real-time purchases of households across the US.  (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Primary Care, Smoking, USPSTF / 28.01.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Michael Silverstein M.D., M.P.H Professor of Pediatrics Director of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics Vice Chair of Research, Department of Pediatrics Boston University School of Medicine  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States and quitting is one of the best things people can do for their health. Additionally, smoking during pregnancy can cause serious harms to both the pregnant person and the baby. The Task Force continues to recommend that clinicians ask all adults and pregnant people about their tobacco use, advise those who use tobacco to quit, and connect them to proven, safe methods to help them quit.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics, PLoS, Smoking, Tobacco Research / 29.12.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dongmei Li, Ph.D., Associate Professor Clinical and Translational Science Institute University of Rochester Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Previous animal and human studies have found that nicotine exposure could harm adolescents’ brain development and impact their cognitive functions. Electronic cigarettes, which have become very popular among youth in the US in recent years, usually contain nicotine at equivalent or possibly higher levels than traditional tobacco cigarettes. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that vaping might be associated with self-reported cognitive complaints. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?  Response: Main findings from our study are:
  1. Our cross-sectional youth and adult studies are the first to associate vaping with self-reported complaints of serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions.
  2. Our youth study also found that students who reported starting to vape early – between eight and 13 years of age – had higher odds of reporting difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions than those who started vaping at 14 or older.
  3. These studies add to a growing list of conditions and diseases (wheezing, COPD, cardiovascular disease, cancer) that have been associated with vaping/electronic cigarette use. 
(more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA, Pediatrics, Smoking, Stanford, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 03.12.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, PhD, FSAHM (pronouns: she/her) Professor of Pediatrics Taube Endowed Research Faculty Scholar Professor (by courtesy), Epidemiology and Population Health Professor (by courtesy), Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Director of Fellows’ Scholarship, Department of Pediatrics Director of Research, Division of Adolescent Medicine Co-leader, Scholarly Concentrations, Pediatrics Residency Program MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: To examine adolescent and young adult e-cigarette use during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 4 main findings:
  • About 2/3 of adolescent and young adult ever-e-cigarette users reported either quitting or cutting back on e-cigarette use since COVID-19 began.
  • Users least likely to quit or cut back e-cigarette use were those showing higher levels of nicotine dependence and those who had used e- cigarettes a large number of times.
  • Adolescent and young adult e-cigarette users found it harder to access e-cigarettes, but unlike studies before COVID-19, the dominant source of purchasing e-cigs was online instead of brick-and-mortar during COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Youth below 21 years were able to purchase e-cigarettes without any age verification, and those whose age was verified were asked to physically show ID or provided an email, which are less effective means to prevent underage youth use.
(more…)
Author Interviews, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Smoking, Tobacco Research / 11.11.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mahmoud Al Rifai, MD, MPH Cardiovascular Disease Fellow Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX Salim S. Virani, MD, PhD, FACC, FAHA, FASPC Professor, Section of Cardiovascular Research Director, Cardiology Fellowship Training Program Baylor College of Medicine Staff Cardiologist, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center Co-Director, VA Advanced Fellowship in Health Services Research & Development at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center Investigator, Health Policy, Quality and Informatics Program Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center HSR&D Center of Innovation Houston, TX MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: E-cigarettes have gained popularity since their introduction in the U.S. market nearly 20 years ago and their use has increased especially among younger adults. On the other hand, public health efforts aimed at curbing tobacco use over the past few decades have resulted in a decrease in cigarette use. However, state-specific laws and regional cultural differences with regards to perception of these products may result in variability in tobacco use patterns. We therefore evaluate temporal changes in e-cigarette and cigarette use in each U.S. state between the years 2016 to 2018. (more…)
Author Interviews, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Heart Disease, Social Issues, Tobacco Research / 19.10.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mahmoud Al Rifai MD MPH Section of Cardiology, Department of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine Houston Salim S. Virani, MD, PhD Section of Cardiology Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center Section of Cardiology, Department of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine Houston    MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: E-cigarettes typically cost more than combustible cigarettes and there is more variability in cost due to a wide variety of flavors, e-cigarette liquid, and vaping device that are available in the market. Therefore, use of e-cigarettes may vary depending on income with potentially higher use among higher income individuals. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Tobacco Research / 08.10.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tsu-Shuan Wu University of California, San Francisco San Francisco, California MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? “Checking your phone and vaping as you do” by Alper Çuğun is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Response: The background for this study involves the associations of household rules and parental awareness with youth tobacco use using data from the Population Assessment Tobacco and Health Study. Health concerns regarding non-cigarette tobacco products, specifically e-cigarettes, have been on the rise. We wanted to explore whether parents are up to date with the trends of popular tobacco products today and what role they may play in youth tobacco cessation and prevention. The main findings of the study revealed that parents less often suspected their children’s tobacco use if their children reported using only e-cigarettes, and other non-cigarette tobacco products, when compared with cigarettes. Additionally, we found that youth who agreed with their parents that their home has strict rules for tobacco use were less likely to initiate of tobacco use compared to youth who had different understanding of the rules from their parents or youth from households with more permissive household rules.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cannabis, JAMA, Tobacco Research / 07.10.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Isabella Lanza, PhD Associate Professor of Human Development California State University, Long Beach   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This is the first study to examine both nicotine vaping and cannabis vaping trajectories across adolescence and young adulthood, which allowed us to assess whether poly-substance vaping is common among adolescents and young adults. Poly-substance vaping (nicotine and cannabis vaping) was reported among a significant proportion of participants in the study (25% were identified as poly-substance vapers). For those that either escalated to frequent nicotine vaping use in adolescence or initiated frequent nicotine vaping use in young adulthood, the probability of engaging in cannabis vaping was very high (85%+).    (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Tobacco Research / 05.10.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Priti Bandi PhD Principal Scientist, Risk Factors Surveillance Research American Cancer Society, Inc. Atlanta, GA 30303 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Trends in e-cigarette prevalence and population count of users according to cigarette smoking histories are unknown. These data are needed to inform public health actions against a rapidly changing U.S. e-cigarette market. (more…)
Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 11.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Irfan Rahman, Ph.D. Principal Investigator. Center for Inhalation and Flavoring Toxicological Research University of Rochester MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our study aimed to determine whether vaping and smoking affect Covid-19 proteins and genes and whether that effect changes depending on the age of the vaper/smoker. SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, enters cells by interacting with ACE2 and TMPRSS2-Furin proteins. We found that both of these proteins increase with age and are also increased by smoking or vaping. This suggests that older adults, smokers and vapers may be more prone to infection with SARS-Cov-2 and may be more likely to have severe complications. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Johns Hopkins, Tobacco Research / 10.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Funmi (Abiru) Obisesan, MD, MPH Postdoctoral Fellow Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Postdoctoral Fellow Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: E-cigarettes are conceived by many individuals to be less harmful than combustible cigarettes, resulting in their use among young individuals and other vulnerable subpopulations. The recent outbreak of EVALI (e-cigarette, or vaping, product-use associated lung injuries) which was directly associated with e-cigarette use, and the rapidly evolving e-cigarette market, as well as regulations concerning them necessitates the need for up-to-date analyses of e-cigarette use trends.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cannabis, CDC, JAMA, Pediatrics, Tobacco Research / 18.05.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Susan Hocevar Adkins, MD Lead Author, Senior Medical Officer, and Commander United States Public Health Service CDC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Since August 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and state, local, and territorial health departments have been investigating a national outbreak of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI). Although clinical presentation and outcomes of EVALI patients generally have been reported, data on adolescent patients are more limited. This article fills this gap by using data from national EVALI surveillance at CDC to examine demographic, substance use, and clinical characteristics of adolescent EVALI patients relative to young adult and adult EVALI patients. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Tobacco Research, USPSTF / 05.05.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Michael Silverstein M.D., M.P.H Professor of Pediatrics Director of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics Vice Chair of Research, Department of Pediatrics Boston University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The number of children and teens who use tobacco products continues to be a major issue in the U.S., driven largely by an increase in e-cigarette use, which makes preventing tobacco use among young people critical to the health of our nation. To help prevent kids and teens from starting to use tobacco, the Task Force recommends clinicians provide behavioral interventions, such as education or brief counseling.   (more…)
Abuse and Neglect, Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Tobacco / 30.01.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hongying (Daisy) Dai, PhD Associate Professor Department of Biostatistics | College of Public Health University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha, NE MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: E-cigarette use increased dramatically from 11.7% to 27.5% for high school students and from 3.3% to 10.5% for middle school students during the periods of 2017 - 2019. In September 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that youth e-cigarette use is reaching an epidemic proportion. Exposure to secondhand aerosol (SHA) from e-cigarettes is not harmless as e-cigarettes aerosol contains nicotine and potentially harmful substances, including carbonyl compounds, TSNAs, heavy metals, and glycols. This study analyzed the 2015-2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) and the main findings are:
  • The prevalence of secondhand aerosol exposure significantly increased from 25.6% in 2017 to 33.2% in 2018 (p<.001) after being stable during 2015 and 2017 (25.2% vs. 25.6%, p>0.05). The increase of SHA exposure from 2017 to 2018 was observed across socio-demographic groups.
  • Among never tobacco users in 2018 NYTS, students who reported secondhand aerosol exposure (vs. no) had higher odds of susceptibility to use e-cigarettes (38.8% vs. 21.0%) and cigarettes (30.7% vs. 21.2%) and higher odds of reporting exposure to e-cigarette marketing.
(more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 21.11.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amy L. Nyman, MA Research Associate Georgia State University, School of Public Health Atlanta, GA 30303 Coauthors: Nyman, Huang, Weaver, Eriksen MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Though the negative health consequences of smoking combustible cigarettes have been well-established and widely accepted, there has been significant public debate about the health effects of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) use, and the extent to which use of ENDS may present less health risk to smokers than smoking combustible cigarettes. Many tobacco control researchers and scientists believe that ENDS use is safer than combustible cigarette smoking, though recent news of an expansive outbreak of vaping-related lung illnesses and deaths has led to continued speculation. A prior study of perceived comparative harm of combustible cigarettes and ENDS revealed the proportion of US adults perceiving ENDS to be as harmful as, or more harmful than combustible cigarettes increased substantially between 2012 and 2017. Given recently proposed regulations and the escalating focus on the impact of ENDS use on youth in the past few years, our study assessed changes in perceived comparative harm of combustible cigarettes and ENDS among US adults since the prior study, between 2017 and 2018.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Pediatrics, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 24.10.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Melody Kingsley, MPH Epidemiologist, Massachusetts Department of Public Health  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The majority of youth who use tobacco use flavored products, which are available in thousands of distinct flavors with youth appeal.[i] In response, communities in states across the country, including Massachusetts, have passed flavored tobacco restriction policies which restrict sales of flavored tobacco; the Food and Drug Administration has proposed increased restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco nationwide as well. To date, a few studies have found that flavored tobacco restriction policies reduce sales and availability of flavored tobacco, but to our knowledge, no prior evidence exists on the short-term impact of FTRPs on youth tobacco use. Timely evaluation of these policies is important to ensure that FTRPs are an effective strategy for curbing youth tobacco use. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Smoking, Tobacco / 23.10.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Andrea Villanti, PhD, MPH Associate Professor Department of Psychiatry Vermont Center on Behavior and Health University of Vermont  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Our earlier work documented a significant association between first use of a flavored tobacco product and current tobacco use (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5522636/) in a cross-sectional sample. The goal of this study was to examine whether there was a prospective relationship between first use of a flavored tobacco product and subsequent use of that product in longitudinal data..  (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Pediatrics, Smoking, UCSF / 23.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gregory M Marcus, MD, MAS Professor of Medicine in Residence Endowed Professor in Atrial Fibrillation Research University of California, San Francisco Associate Chief of Cardiology for Research, UCSF Health University of California, San Francisco MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Smoking remains the most common preventable cause of death and disability. We previously found evidence that tobacco smoke exposure in the young may lead to atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disturbance, later in life. Here we leveraged the multi-generational nature of the Framingham Heart Study to demonstrate that parental smoking was a risk factor for offspring atrial fibrillation. At least some of this relationship was explained by a greater propensity to smoke in offspring of smoking parents. These findings demonstrate a potentially new harmful effect of smoking pertinent to the most vulnerable population, our children. It also demonstrates how parental behaviors can have meaningful adverse consequences to their children decades later. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 22.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hongying (Daisy) Dai, PhD Associate Professor Department of Biostatistics | College of Public Health University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Previous studies have reported a surge in e-cigarette use among youth during the 2017 - 2018. For instance, the prevalence of current (past 30-day) e-cigarette use increased by 77.8% (from 11.7% to 20.8%) among high school students and by 48.5% (from 3.3% to 4.9%) among middle school students. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that youth e-cigarette use is reaching an epidemic proportion in September 2018. Whether e-cigarette use prevalence also increased among young adults (aged 18-24 years), a population with high e-cigarette use rates and vulnerability to nicotine dependence, is unknown. (more…)
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, JAMA, Smoking / 17.09.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sairam Jabba, Ph.D Senior Research Associate Department of Anesthesiology Duke University Durham, NC 27710 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Pulegone is a potential carcinogen contained in several mint oils. Due to its carcinogenic properties, FDA banned pulegone last year as a food additive. Previous chemical analytical studies from CDC have demonstrated that several mint/menthol-flavored e-cigarette liquids and snuff tobacco products contain pulegone in significant amounts. FDA currently does not regulate pulegone in e-cigarettes and snuff products and the health risk associated with it for the users is not well understood.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Sleep Disorders, Tobacco / 12.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christine Spadola, M.S., LMHC, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Florida Atlantic University Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Short sleep duration and sleep fragmentation are associated with adverse health outcomes including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, certain cancers, and mental health challenges such as depression and anxiety. Avoiding the use of alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine close to bedtime represent modifiable behaviors that can improve sleep. Nonetheless, among community dwelling adults (e.g., adults in their natural bedroom environment as opposed to research laboratories) and specifically African Americans, there is a lack of longitudinal research investigating the use of these substances and the associations with objective measures of sleep.. (more…)
Author Interviews, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research, Yale / 26.07.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Abigail S. Friedman, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Health Policy and Management Yale School of Public Health   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Smoking is responsible for approximately 1 in 5 deaths in the United States each year. Despite the fact that all US states ban tobacco sales to minors, the vast majority of smokers begin this habit as adolescents. As of July 25, 2019, 18 states and over 450 localities have passed laws banning tobacco sales to those under age-21. The laws are commonly referred to as “tobacco-21” laws. Concurrently, 16 states without state-level tobacco-21 laws prohibit counties and municipalities from raising their legal sales age for tobacco products above the state-mandated age; typically, 18. If local tobacco-21 laws reduce youth smoking, then preemption policies impede population health. To consider this, we estimated the impact of county- and municipality-level tobacco-21 policies on smoking among 18 to 20 year-olds residing in MMSAs (metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas). Specifically, regression analyses compared smoking among 18-20 year-olds in areas with more vs. less tobacco-21 coverage, before vs. after these policies were adopted. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, JAMA, Smoking, Surgical Research / 14.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ian A. Maher, MD Department of Dermatology St Louis University, St Louis, Missouri  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: One of our wonderful trainees at Saint Louis University was interested in the role of smoking in flap failures.  Dogma has been that smoking was a major risk factor for flap failures.  Looking at our database as well as published data, flap failures are a rare event, so rare as to be difficult to definitively associate with anything.  We decided to look more broadly at complications both acute (infections failures) and chronic (mainly cosmetic scarring associated) in flaps and grafts. (more…)