Author Interviews, NYU, Smoking, Tobacco / 05.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Judith T. Zelikoff, PhD, Professor Department of Environmental Medicine NYU Langone Medical Center. MedicalResearch.com: Would you tell us a little about yourself? Response: I am a tenured full professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at the NYU School of Medicine with >25 years of experience studying the toxicology of inhaled single contaminants and complex mixtures including metals, nanoparticles, gaseous and particulate (PM) air pollutants, e-cigarettes and combustible products from cigarettes, biomass burning, and diesel exhaust. Over the last decade, studies in my laboratory has focused on the effects of maternal inhalation of environmental toxicants, including fine-sized ambient particulate matter during pregnancy (and/or during neonatal development) on fetal cardiovascular structure, obstetric consequences, and later life disorders including obesity, immune dysfunction, and decreased sociability and reproductive success in adult male and female offspring. Other early life studies associated with inhaled nicotine/tobacco products have demonstrated that maternal and neonatal exposure of mice to aerosols from e-cigarettes (with and without nicotine) alters neurodevelopment and produces hyperactivity in adult male offspring. Our studies with smokeless tobacco products demonstrate dyslipidemia and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in prenatally exposed adult offspring. One of my major scientific accomplishments are my early life inhalation exposure studies demonstrating, for the first time in some cases, that prenatal/neonatal exposure to environmental agents can produce effects persistent into adulthood that can increase susceptibility to a variety of disorders, including cardiovascular disease. In addition, I serve as the Community Outreach and Engagement Core (COEC)Director for our NYU NIEHS Core Center. In this regard, our COEC team partners with environmentally-impacted communities in the NY/NJ area to assess community concerns associated with environmental pollution and provide educational information that can help build community infrastructure. I am also extremely active as a leader in the Society of Toxicology having served as Secretary of the Society for 3 years and President of the Metals and Immunotoxicology SOT Specialty Sections where i received an Immunotoxicology Lifetime Achievement Award. I currently serve as Chairperson of the SOT Committee for Diversity Initiatives and President of the Ethical, Legal and Social Specialty Section. I am currently a full member of a National Institute of Health Study and have also served on several other Federal/State Advisory Panels including the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, EPA, NASA, NTP, and NJ Department of Environmental Protection. In addition to serving as an Associate Editor and Editorial Board member for numerous toxicology/environmental health journals, I currently serve as vice-President for the NYU School of Medicine Faculty Council. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Stroke, Tobacco Research / 23.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joni Valdemar Lindbohm, MD Department of Public Health University of Helsinki, Finland MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Approximately 1-6% percent of people carry an unruptured intracranial aneurysm but most of these never rupture during lifetime and cause subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). In SAH, the rupture of an aneurysm causes bleeding into the lining between the brain’s surface and underlying tissue. Despite advances in operative techniques, SAH can lead to death in up to 45% of the cases. Because life style risk factors are critical in development of subarachnoid hemorrhage, it is important to characterize the risk factor profile of those with an elevated risk. Widely accepted risk factors for SAH are increasing age, smoking, hypertension and female sex. However, the reasons for an elevated risk in women have remained uncovered and the effect of smoking habits are not well understood. (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, Columbia, OBGYNE, Tobacco / 21.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Qiana L. Brown, PhD, MPH, LCSW Postdoctoral Research Fellow Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology Substance Abuse Epidemiology Training Program MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Brown: Prenatal substance use is a major public health concern, and poses significant threats to maternal and child health. Tobacco and alcohol are the most commonly used substances among pregnant women and non-pregnant women of reproductive age, and are leading causes of preventable adverse health outcomes for both mother and baby. Women with health insurance have more prenatal visits, and present for prenatal care earlier than uninsured women, which may increase their exposure to health messaging around substance abuse prevention at prenatal visits. Additionally, treatment for substance use disorders and maternal and child health care are part of the Essential Health Benefits covered by the Affordable Care Act, which may encourage patients and providers to engage in discussions around alcohol and tobacco use prevention during pregnancy. Given these factors, we examined the relationship between health insurance coverage and both past month tobacco use and past month alcohol use among a nationally representative sample of reproductive age women in the United States. We sampled 97,788 women ages 12 to 44 years old who participated in the U.S. National Survey of Drug Use and Health in 2010 to 2014. Among these women, 3.28% (n=3,267) were pregnant. We specifically investigated whether the relationship between health insurance and alcohol or tobacco use differed between pregnant and non-pregnant women. (more…)
Author Interviews, FDA, JAMA, Smoking / 07.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marissa G. Hall, MSPH Doctoral Candidate, Department of Health Behavior Gillings School of Global Public Health University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires pictorial warnings on cigarette packs, but implementation was stalled by a 2012 lawsuit by the tobacco industry. The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled against pictorial warnings, saying that FDA had “not provided a shred of evidence” that the pictorial warnings reduce smoking. To address this critique, our randomized trial examined the impact on smoking behavior of adding pictorial warnings to the front and back of cigarette packs. We found that smokers with pictorial warnings on their packs were more likely to attempt to quit and to successfully quit than those whose packs had text-only warnings. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lancet, OBGYNE, Schizophrenia, Smoking / 25.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alan S. Brown, M.D., M.P.H. Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology Columbia University Medical Center Director, Program in Birth Cohort Studies, Division of Epidemiology New York State Psychiatric Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Brown: Smoking during pregnancy is a risk factor for several pregnancy-related outcomes including low birthweight and preterm birth. Evidence for a link with schizophrenia is scant. We analyzed a maternal biomarker of smoking called cotinine, a nicotine metabolite, in mothers of nearly 1,000 schizophrenia cases and 1,000 controls in a national birth cohort in Finland. We found that heavy smoking in pregnancy was related to a 38% increase in schizophrenia risk in offspring and that as cotinine levels increased even in the more moderate smokers risk of schizophrenia also increased. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Tobacco Research / 28.04.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tanush Gupta, MD Chief Resident & Instructor of Medicine Department of Medicine New York Medical College & Westchester Medical Center Valhalla, NY  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Gupta: Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature death in the United States (U.S.). Approximately one-third of all coronary artery disease related deaths in the U.S. annually can be attributed to cigarette smoking. However, studies from the pre-thrombolytic and thrombolytic eras have shown that mortality in smokers with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) may be lower than in nonsmokers, a phenomenon called the “smoker’s paradox.” The majority of STEMI patients in contemporary practice are treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI). Data on the association of smoking with outcomes in STEMI patients undergoing pPCI are limited and also conflicting as to whether the smoker’s paradox exists in this population. Hence, the purpose of our study was to examine the association of smoking status with in-hospital outcomes in a nationwide cohort of STEMI patients undergoing pPCI, included in the U.S. National Inpatient Sample, over a 10-year time period from 2003 to 2012. Our primary outcome of interest was in-hospital mortality and secondary outcomes were post-procedure hemorrhage, in-hospital cardiac arrest, and average length of stay. Of 985,174 STEMI patients who underwent pPCI in the U.S. over this time period, 438,954 (44.6%) were smokers. Smokers were on an average 8 years younger than nonsmokers and had lower prevalence of most cardiovascular comorbidities. Smoking status was associated with lower risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality (2.0% vs. 5.9%, adjusted OR 0.60, p<0.001), lower incidence of post-procedure hemorrhage (4.2% vs. 6.1%, adjusted OR 0.81, p<0.001) and in-hospital cardiac arrest (1.3% vs. 2.1%, adjusted OR 0.78, p<0.001), and shorter average length of stay (3.5 days vs. 4.5 days, p<0.001). To assess whether younger age of smokers was influencing the association with in-hospital mortality, we also performed an age-stratified analyses in different age groups. The smoker’s paradox largely persisted in age-stratified analyses suggesting that younger age of smokers was not the sole explanation for this paradox. We performed additional assessment for confounding to explore whether the paradoxically lower risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality in smokers with STEMI was driven by differences in baseline demographics and comorbidities between hospitalized smokers and nonsmokers in general. To test for such confounding, we examined the association of smoking with in-hospital mortality in 2 conditions in which this association has not been previously studied – hip fractures and severe sepsis – using similar statistical regression models. In both these study populations, smokers were on average younger than nonsmokers and had lower risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality, but, the paradoxical association in both these conditions was weaker in magnitude than in STEMI patients. Since there is no cogent biological hypothesis to explain the lower mortality in smokers with sepsis or hip fractures, it is likely that the smoker’s paradox in STEMI is also at least partly driven by residual confounding due to inadequate adjustment for the biological effects of age. However, as this paradox was stronger in STEMI patients than in patients with hip fractures or severe sepsis, we believe that additional true biological differences between smokers and nonsmokers with STEMI also contribute to the paradoxically lower in-hospital mortality. (more…)
Author Interviews, Schizophrenia, Smoking / 20.04.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Stéphane Potvin, PhD Associate professor, Department of Psychiatry Eli Lilly Chair in Schizophrenia Research University of Montreal MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Potvin:  Life expectancy is substantially reduced in schizophrenia, and one of the main factors contributing to this is the high prevalence of cigarette smoking in these patients. The leading hypothesis for cigarette smoking in schizophrenia is the self-medication hypothesis. Although some empirical results show that nicotine improves cognitive performance in schizophrenia, some authors have criticized the self-medication hypothesis for its implied (and unintented) justification of cigarette smoking in schizophrenia. About a decade ago, it has been hypothesized that cigarette smoking may be more reinforcing in schizophrenia patients, due to biological dysfunctions common to schizophrenia and tobacco use disorder. However, that model had not been formally tested. Based on recent findings showing that cigarette cravings are increased in schizophrenia smokers, compared to smokers with no comorbid psychiatric disorder, we performed a neuroimaging study on cigarette cravings in schizophrenia. Unless we are wrong, this was most probably the first study to do so. We found that relative to control smokers, smokers with schizophrenia had increased activations of the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex in response to pleasant images of cigarette. What is is interesting is that the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex is one of the core regions of the brain reward system, which mediated the reinforcing effects of several psycho-active substances, including tobacco. As such, our results tend to confirm the assumption that cigarette might be more reinforcing in schizophrenia smokers. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pulmonary Disease, Smoking / 07.04.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. William Phillips MD MPH USPSTF  Task Force member and Theodore J. Phillips Endowed Professor in Family Medicine University of Washington, Seattle. Dr. Phillips is also a founder and senior associate editor of the Annals of Family Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Dr. Phillips: Chronic obstructive respiratory disease, or COPD, is a serious, chronic condition that affects a person’s ability to breathe. It is the third leading cause of death in the United States. When the Task Force reviewed the research on screening adults for COPD in a primary care setting, we concluded with moderate certainty that screening has no net benefit, which is why we do not recommend screening for COPD in people who do not have symptoms. (more…)
Addiction, Dental Research, Microbiome, NYU, Smoking / 30.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jiyoung Ahn, PhD, RD, MS Associate Professor of Population Health Associate Director of Population Sciences, NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center  and Brandilyn Peters (post-doctoral fellow, lead author) NYU Langone School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Oral bacteria play important roles in oral health, and can influence the health of other body systems as well. We were interested in studying how cigarette smoking affects oral bacteria. To do this, we examined the oral bacteria in mouthwash samples from 112 current smokers, 571 former smokers, and 521 people who never smoked. We found that the mouth bacterial composition of current smokers differed dramatically from those who never smoked. However, the mouth bacterial composition of former smokers was similar to that of never smokers, suggesting that quitting can restore the oral bacteria back to a healthy state. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Smoking / 15.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Nicola Lindson-Hawley PhD Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group (TAG) Managing Editor MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Lindson-Hawley: For many people, the obvious way to quit smoking is to cut down gradually until they stop.  After all, that’s how we accomplish most other goals that are hard.  With addictions other than smoking, we aim to get people to cut down gradually rather than stop abruptly.  But with smoking, the norm is to advise people to stop all at once.  Around the world, physicians and others who support smoking cessation help people to quit abruptly and not to cut down first.  However, if physicians are not providing support to people who want to quit by reduction, then they will have less chance of success as we know that people who receive support to quit are more likely to succeed.  On the other hand, if cutting down is a bad way to quit, then we need to persuade people to abandon their common sense idea and quit abruptly instead. Therefore, this study investigated this by comparing a group of smokers advised to quit gradually by cutting down with a group who quit all at once. What we found was that cutting down first, was a less successful way to quit than smoking as normal and then stopping. Smokers who quit abruptly were 25% more likely to have quit after 4 weeks than those who quit gradually. (more…)
Author Interviews, OBGYNE, Pediatrics, Pulmonary Disease, Tobacco Research / 24.02.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. med. Julia Dratva, MD MPH          Medical Specialist Prevention and Public Health FMH  Scientific project leader MAS Versicherungsmedizin/Studienkoordinationleitung Dept. Epidemiology and Public Health Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute Socinstrasse 57, P.O. Box, 4002 Basel, Switzerland Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Dratva: Early childhood is a critical time window for subsequent health. Early life environment is known to be important for lung development and respiratory health. Little is known on the potential impact on lung ageing and the potential mechanisms responsible for the long-term impact. We investigated early childhood factors and their association with lung function decline, a common marker of lung aging, in two long-standing adult cohorts, SAPALDIA and ECRHS. As recently published in scientific journal PlosONE, maternal smoking, early respiratory infections or season of birth are associated with a faster decline in lung function decline, while less rapid decline was found in persons who had attended daycare. The early exposures may not only have an independent adverse effect on lung aging but also increase the respiratory vulnerability to other adult risk factors. Stronger effects were observed in in smokers exposed to the aforementioned adverse factors. (more…)
Author Interviews, Tobacco Research / 04.02.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kate Frazer University College Dublin School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems Dublin , Ireland MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Frazer: The review is an update of a 2010 Cochrane systematic review publication ‘Legislative smoking bans for reducing secondhand smoke exposure, smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption’. The 2010 review identified
  • Evidence of secondhand smoke exposure and reduced cotinine levels after the implementation of legislative smoking bans.
  • Evidence of reduced admissions for acute coronary syndrome.
  • Limited evidence of an impact on active smoking rates.
The update was undertaken because more countries have since implemented legislative smoking bans since the review was published in 2010 and the body of research was growing in the intervening period. The new review, published 4th February 2016, presents evidence from 77 observational studies in 21 countries. MedicalResearch: What are the main findings? Dr. Frazer: There is consistent evidence identifying reduced admissions in the post ban period for acute coronary syndrome/ acute myocardial infarction in 33 of 43 studies. There is evidence of reduced mortality from smoking related illnesses in 8 out of 11 studies. There is evidence of reduced admissions for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but the evidence of reduced admissions was not consistent in all studies. There is evidence of an impact on perinatal health outcomes including low birth weight and risk of pre term birth, but the evidence was not consistent in all studies. The evidence of an impact of legislative smoking bans on active smoking and tobacco consumption is not consistent. There have been reductions in smoking rates. The impact of the ban on reducing admissions was observed in smokers and in non-smokers. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Heart Disease, Tobacco, Toxin Research / 29.01.2016

MedicalRearch.com Interview with: Maciej Goniewicz, PhD, PharmD Assistant Professor of Oncology, Department of Health Behavior Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Goniewicz: In addition to nicotine and its solvents (like propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin), a majority of e-cigarettes contain flavorings. Users of e-cigarettes can choose their favorite flavor among hundreds of various options, including fruit, coffee, menthol, vanilla, chocolate, candy flavors, and tobacco.  Although many flavorings used in e-cigarettes are recognized as safe when used in food products, little is known about their potential toxicity when inhaled. In this study we measured one such flavoring, benzaldehyde. This flavoring is commonly used in food and cosmetics. We know that there is little to no toxicity if we eat this compound or if we apply it on our skin. However, workers who regularly inhale a high concentration of benzaldehyde often report irritation of their eyes and throat. In this study, we tested 145 e-cigarette products, and we found benzaldehyde in 108 products. Interestingly, the highest levels of benzaldehyde were detected in cherry-flavored products.  (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Smoking / 29.01.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John Cunningham, PhD Senior Scientist, Social & Epidemiological Research Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Toronto, Ontario  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Cunningham: Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) has been found to improve tobacco cessation success rates in clinical trials where there is accompanying behavioral support. However, population survey data has indicated that people who purchase NRT as part of a quit attempt are no more successful at quitting smoking than people who don’t use NRT as part of their quit attempt. While causal statements about the effectiveness of NRT cannot be made based on the population survey findings, it does raise concerns about the effectiveness of NRT when there is no accompanying behavioral support. Our trial used an interesting design where participants were recruited for a longitudinal survey about their patterns of smoking. As part of this survey, participants were asked if they would be interested in nicotine patches to help them quit smoking, if they were offered for free. Of those participants who said they were interested, a randomized half were actually sent a five-week supply of nicotine patches. The other half of participants were not sent the nicotine patches and were, in fact, unaware that nicotine patches were sent to others in the trial. Participants were followed-up at 8 weeks and 6 months, with those participants receiving free-of-charge nicotine patches being more likely to report current abstinence compared to those participants not sent the free nicotine patches (30-day self-reported abstinence at 6-months was 7.6% versus 3.0% respectively; odds ratio (OR), 2.65; 95% CI, 1.44 - 4.89, p = .002). (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Smoking / 27.01.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Timothy Baker, PhD Professor of Medicine University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Baker: Previous research showed that combination nicotine replacement (the nicotine patch plus the nicotine lozenge or gum) and varenicline are the most effective smoking cessation treatments available, yet they had never been directly compared with one another. This study set out to do that, and compare them with the nicotine patch. The present study shows that three medications which were combined with coaching to quit smoking—a pill called varenicline (Chantix), the nicotine patch alone, and a combination of nicotine-replacement medications—all produced about the same abstinence rates among participants at 6- and 12-months after the quit attempt. We were surprised that the patch by itself produced about the same level of success as the other two more intensive medications. (more…)
Author Interviews, Tobacco / 25.01.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Terry Gordon, PhD Professor, Department of Environmental Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and at New York University's College of Global Public Health  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Gordon:I t is well established that the intentional inhalation of tobacco combustion products causes severe respiratory and cardiovascular health effects and, in fact, active smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the US and worldwide.  Importantly, secondhand smoke exposure also causes a range of serious health problems in adults, adolescents, and children exposed in the home or at work. Secondhand smoke exposure can be as harmful as active smoking and is a major cause of both cancer and cardiovascular disease itself, as well as having countless other harmful effects. It was the scientific findings of these effects that led to many clean air regulations across the nation and enabled the FDA to regulate a number of tobacco products.  A growing number of studies in the U.S. and abroad have demonstrated poor indoor air quality in hookah bars, but none have looked at the effect of this on those who work in such establishments. We, therefore, studied whether workplace exposure to secondhand hookah smoke affects the pulmonary and cardiovascular systems.  One of our main findings was that occupational exposure to secondhand hookah smoke produces systemic effects as seen by increases in inflammatory cytokines in the blood after a 10 to 12 hour work shift. This is very worrisome as more and more diseases are being linked to chronic inflammation.  Changes in heart rate suggested that the cardiovascular system was also altered during a single work shift.  The most dramatic effect, however, appeared to be an increase in exhaled carbon monoxide after the work shift.  The low temperature burning of charcoal used to heat the shisha in a water pipe produces large amounts of carbon monoxide, and we observed exhaled carbon monoxide levels as high as 90 ppm, which suggests significant exposure of workers to secondhand hookah smoke and the potential for impairment of hemoglobin to efficiently carry oxygen to the tissues. (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, BMJ, Pediatrics, Tobacco Research / 16.01.2016

More on Alcohol on MedicalResearch.com MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Joanne Cranwell PhD, CPsychol The UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies  School of Medicine Division of Epidemiology & Public Health Clinical Sciences Building University of Nottingham MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? Dr. Cranwell: We conducted this particular study because it is well established that adolescent exposure to alcohol and tobacco in the media, such as film, television, and paid for advertising are determinants of subsequent alcohol and tobacco use in young people. The extent of potential exposure has been transformed over the past decade by the emergence of social media, in which exposure to pro-tobacco content has also been linked to favourable attitudes towards tobacco, including intention to smoke, in young non-smokers. Our previous published research highlighted that popular YouTube music videos contain tobacco and substantial alcohol content, including branding. Alcohol advertising is largely self-regulated by the alcohol industry and the Portman Group who speaks on behalf of the UK drinks industry.   The Advertising Standards Authority also provides guidance on marketing of alcohol products in the UK. Broadly speaking the guidelines from these three regulators state that “Marketing communications for alcoholic drinks should not be targeted at people under 18 and should not imply, condone or encourage immoderate, irresponsible or anti-social drinking”. However the extent to which adults and adolescents are exposed to tobacco or alcohol content from YouTube at a population level has not been quantified. In this new study we have therefore estimated population exposure to tobacco and alcohol impressions, defined as appearances in 10-second intervals in a sample of popular videos, in the British adolescent and adult population. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, Dental Research, Smoking / 21.12.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jo Freudenheim, PhD UB Distinguished Professor and Interim Chair Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health School of Public Health and Health Professions University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Freudenheim: There have been a number of studies that have shown an association between periodontal disease and chronic diseases, particularly stroke and heart attacks. There is also some newer evidence that periodontal disease is associated with cancer, particularly cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. Ours is the first large prospective study of periodontal disease and breast cancer. This was part of a study of more than 70,000 postmenopausal women from throughout the United States, the Women’s Health Initiative. Women provided information about their health and other related factors and then those women were followed to see who developed certain diseases. We found that women who had been told that they had periodontal disease were more likely to develop breast cancer. In particular, women who were former smokers (quit within the last 20 years) and who had periodontal disease were at increased breast cancer risk. There was a similar increase in risk for current smokers with periodontal disease but it was not statistically significant. (There was a relatively small number of current smokers in the WHI study.) (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, Tobacco / 13.12.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ralph S. Caraballo, PhD MPH Branch Chief, Epidemiology Branch Office on Smoking and Health National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion CDC Atlanta GA Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Caraballo: Electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) use has increased rapidly in the U.S. in recent years. The availability and use of ENDS raise new issues for public health practice and tobacco regulation, as it is unknown whether patterns of ENDS use enhance, deter, or have no impact on combustible tobacco product use. This study assessed past-month, lifetime, and frequency of ENDS use among current, former, and never adult cigarette smokers. In 2014, overall lifetime and past-month ENDS use was 14.1% and 4.8%, respectively. By smoking status, 49.5% of current, 14.7% of former, and 4.1% of never cigarette smokers had used ENDS in their lifetime, whereas 20.6% of current, 4.0% of former, and 0.8% of never smokers used ENDS in the past month. Among current and former cigarette smokers who ever used ENDS, 44.1% and 44.7% reported using ENDS >10 days in their lifetime, respectively. (more…)
Author Interviews, NYU, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 11.12.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael L. Weitzman MD Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Environmental Medicine NYU Langone Medical Center. Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Weitzman: While the prevalence of cigarette smoking in the United States has recently seen a steady decline, more and more individuals report hookah (water pipe) usage. Researchers have shown that web queries for ‘hookah’ and ‘hookah bars’ have increased dramatically, but it is unclear whether this interest has led to an increase in the number of hookah bars in a given area.  We first tested the website Yelp.com to see whether it could reliably provide us with information – such as the date of establishment of a hookah bar – by comparing the date of the first review written on Yelp.com with the actual opening date. We found that, for 2014 onwards, the first review posting on Yelp.com, on average, occurred within the first month of a hookah bar’s opening date. Additionally, we found a dramatic increase in the number of hookah bars in New York City over the past 5 years. These hookah bars tend to be not randomly distributed, but instead clustered near universities and specific ethnic neighborhoods. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Depression, MD Anderson, Tobacco / 11.12.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Eileen H. Shinn PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Behavioral Science Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences MD Anderson Cancer Center The University of Texas Houston, TX  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Shinn: Recent studies with leukemia, breast, lung, renal and liver cancer patients have shown that patients with depression have worsened survival.  These effect sizes are small, but independent of any of the traditional factors that are known to impact survival, such as extent of cancer, types of treatment administered and baseline health and age of the patient.  The current thinking is that cancer patients who are depressed have chronically heightened responses to stress; the constant release of stress hormones trigger changes in the tumor itself (such as noradrenergically-driven tumor angiogenesis) or may weakens the body’s immune function and ability to resist tumor growth. When we measured depression in newly diagnosed patients with oropharyngeal cancer (cancer of the base of tongue and tonsil), we found that those patients who scored as depressed were 3.5 times more likely to have died within the five year period after their diagnosis, compared to nondepressed patients.  We also found that patients who were depressed were also 3.8 times more likely to have their cancer recur within the first five years after diagnosis.  We also found that patients who continued to smoke after diagnosis were more likely to recur within the first five years. These effect sizes were larger than those typically found in recent studies.  We believe that the larger effect size may be due to the tight eligibility criteria ( e.g., we did not include patients who already had recurrent disease, we only included patients with one specific type of head and neck cancer, oropharyngeal) and also due to controlling other known factors (all patients completed individualized treatment regimens of radiation/ chemoradiation at a comprehensive cancer center and patients with more advanced disease stage were more likely to have received treatment intensification compared to patients with early stage disease).  In all, we had 130 patients, one of the largest prospective studies with oropharyngeal cancer to examine the effect of depression on cancer outcome. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Tobacco Research / 24.11.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: William G. Shadel, PhD Associate Director, Population Health Program Senior Behavioral Scientist RAND Corporation Pittsburgh, PA  15213  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Shadel: The tobacco industry spends almost all of its multi-billion dollar advertising budget at retail point-of-sale locations.  A key feature of their advertising strategy includes the tobacco power wall, a prominent behind the cashier display of hundreds of cigarette and tobacco product brands.  The power wall also displays posters for those tobacco products as well as pricing information.  As such, it conveys a lot of positive messages about tobacco products to consumers. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate whether hiding or moving the tobacco power wall from its highly conspicuous location reduced teens’ smoking risk when they shop at convenience stores.   The study took place in the RAND StoreLab (RSL), a life-sized replica of a convenience store that was constructed to explore a range of options for regulating tobacco products at point-of-sale retail locations.  A sample of 271 teens (ages 11-17) was randomized to one of three experimental conditions: cashier (the tobacco power wall was located in its usual location, behind the cashier); side wall (the tobacco power wall was moved from behind the cashier to an out of the way location in the RSL); and hidden (the tobacco power wall was located behind the cashier, but was hidden behind an opaque wall).  After teens finished shopping in the RSL, they completed questionnaires that measured their susceptibility to future smoking. Teens assigned to the condition where the power wall was hidden were significantly less likely to report that they would smoke in the future, compared with those that were assigned to the cashier condition.  Locating the power wall to a sidewall had no effect on smoking susceptibility. (more…)
Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Smoking, Tobacco / 23.11.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Andrea C. Villanti PhD, MPH Director, Regulatory Science and Policy Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at Truth Initiative Washington, DC 20001 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Villanti: Awareness, interest, and use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have increased since the products were introduced in the U.S. in 2006. Between 2012 and 2013, 8.3% of young adults reported current e-cigarette use compared to 4.2% of adults overall. One factor likely driving e-cigarette use as well as the use of other tobacco products is advertising, which has been demonstrated to promote the initiation and continued use of cigarettes. Advertising is critical for raising awareness about newly introduced products, and has been shown to influence initiation, experimentation, and progression to regular combustible cigarette smoking in youth. This study used a randomized control trial to assess the impact of brief exposure to four e-cigarette print advertisements (ads) on perceptions, intention, and subsequent use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes among young adults (age 18-34). It found that exposure to e-cigarette ads may enhance curiosity and limited trial of e-cigarettes in never users. Other findings include:
  • Compared to the control group, ad exposure was associated with greater curiosity to try an e-cigarette among never e-cigarette users (18.3% exposed vs. 11.3% unexposed), and greater likelihood of e-cigarette trial at follow-up among never users of cigarettes and e-cigarettes (3.6% exposed vs. 1.2% unexposed).
  • Exploratory analyses did not find an association between ad exposure and cigarette trial or past 30-day use among never users at follow-up, nor cigarette use among smokers over time.
  • Curiosity to try an e-cigarette mediated the relationship between ad exposure and e-cigarette trial among e-cigarette never users.
(more…)
Author Interviews, Smoking / 17.11.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Cristine D. Delnevo, PhD, MPH Chair, Professor, and Director, Center for Tobacco Studies Rutgers School of Public Health Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Delnevo: We analyzed data from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to examine how e-cigarette use differs by demographic subgroups and smoking status. We found that daily e-cigarette use is highest among former smokers who have quit in the past year. These recent quitters were four times more likely than current smokers to be daily e-cigarette users. Furthermore, regular use of e-cigarettes is rare among those who have never smoked and former smokers who have quit more than a year ago. This suggests that many smokers may be using e-cigarettes to quit, and that the devices are neither attracting nonsmokers nor leading to smoking relapse among long term former smokers. If e-cigarettes continue to be used as a smoking cessation tool and uptake among nonsmokers remains low, they may generate public health benefits. (more…)
Author Interviews, Rheumatology, Smoking / 13.11.2015

Jasvinder Singh MD MPH Professor of Medicine UAB Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jasvinder Singh MD MPH Professor of Medicine UAB Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Singh: A systematic review of the effect of smoking on outcomes after total joint replacement showed that current smoking increased the risk of overall post-operative complications but that there were scarce data for smoking and specific surgical outcomes of arthroplasty. We performed a study using data from an institutional Total Joint Registry to answer this question.   In a study of for 7,926 patients who underwent hip or knee arthroplasty, 7% were current tobacco users. We found that compared to current non-users, current tobacco users had higher hazard ratios (95% CI) for deep infection, 2.37 (1.19, 4.72; p=0.01) and implant revision, 1.78 (1.01, 3.13; p=0.04) after total hip or knee arthroplasty. No significant differences were noted for periprosthetic fractures or superficial infections. (more…)
Alcohol, Author Interviews, Smoking / 30.10.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mahesh Thakkar, Ph.D. Associate professor and director of research School of Medicine's Department of Neurology Missouri University Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Thakkar: It is well known that “smokers drink and drinkers smoke.” The question is why. In our previous research, we had observed that alcohol promotes sleepiness by inhibiting the brain region known as the basal forebrain. So we asked, “Does nicotine override alcohol-induced inhibition and activate the basal forebrain?” This study was performed to address these questions. The main finding of this study is that nicotine, when co-used with alcohol, attenuates alcohol-induced sleepiness by overriding alcohol-induced inhibition of the basal forebrain region. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Dental Research, Pediatrics, Smoking / 22.10.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Koji Kawakami, MD, PhD Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Research Management Graduate School of Medicine and Public Health Director, Science for Innovation Policy Unit, Center for Promotion of Interdisciplinary Education and Research Kyoto University Kyoto city Kyoto Japan Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Kawakami: The prevalence of caries in deciduous teeth in developed countries remains high, while established measures for caries prevention in young children is limited to sugar restriction, oral fluoride supplementation and fluoride varnish. In this study of 76920 children in Japan, exposure to tobacco smoke at 4 months of age, which was experienced by half of all children of that age, was associated with an increased risk of caries in deciduous teeth by approximately 2-fold. Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report? Dr. Kawakami: Our findings would support extending public health and clinical interventions to reduce secondhand smoke. For example, the chance of education on the harm of secondhand smoke would increase if dentists become aware of the caries risk due to secondhand smoke as well as tobacco smoking of their patients. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cannabis, CDC, Pediatrics, Tobacco Research / 16.10.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Italia V. Rolle, PhD and Dr. Tim McAfee, MD Office on Smoking and Health National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion CDC Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Since 2010, the proportion of U.S. 12th grade students who used marijuana during the preceding 30 days (21.4%) has surpassed the proportion who used cigarettes (19.2%). Negative outcomes associated with cigarette and marijuana use include addiction to one or both substances and diminished cognitive function, which can lead to lower academic achievement. CDC analyzed data from the 1997–2013 national Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBS) among U.S. non-Hispanic white (white), non-Hispanic black (black), and Hispanic students in grades 9–12 to examine trends in the prevalence of current 1) exclusive cigarette or cigar use, 2) exclusive marijuana use, and 3) any use of the three products. CDC further examined the prevalence of current marijuana use among current users of cigarettes or cigars. During 1997–2013, exclusive cigarette or cigar use declined overall by 64%, from 20.5% to 7.4% (p<0.01). However, exclusive marijuana use more than doubled overall from 4.2% to 10.2% (p<0.01). Any cigarette, cigar, or marijuana use decreased overall from 46.1% to 29.9% (p<0.01), whereas marijuana use among cigarette or cigar users increased from 51.2% to 62.4%. Considerable increases were identified among black and Hispanic students toward the end of the study period for exclusive marijuana use and marijuana use among cigarette or cigar users. Increased exclusive marijuana use and use of marijuana among cigarette or cigar users could undermine success in reducing tobacco use among youths. (more…)
Author Interviews, Smoking, University of Pennsylvania, Weight Research / 16.10.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Samuel H. Preston Ph.D Professor, Department of Sociology and Population Studies Center University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  Medical Research: What is meant by the Obesity Paradox? Is it reported more in some groups? Dr. Preston: The obesity paradox is a term that is used when a study finds that obese people have lower mortality than non-obese people. The finding is considered paradoxical because the obese do not have lower mortality in cross-sections of the general population. The paradox is, however, commonly observed among people who suffer from a particular illness such as heart disease or diabetes.  Medical Research: What are the main findings of your study? What is reverse causation and how does it affect obesity studies? Dr. Preston: We find in a nationally representative sample that, among people suffering from cardiovascular disease, mortality is indeed lower for people who are overweight or obese than for people of normal weight. So the paradox appears among this group. However, when we study people's mortality according to their maximum lifetime weight, the paradox disappears. We attribute its disappearance primarily to the fact that many  people who have lost weight from their maximum are doing so because they are ill. This phenomenon is referred to as "reverse causation" because illness is affecting weight rather than weight affecting illness and mortality. (more…)