MedicalResearch.com - Latest news, interviews, and insights into medical research, health and wellness, fitness and addiction.
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, 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, 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, Pediatrics, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 19.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, PhD, FSAHM Dr. Halpern-Felsher Professor of Pediatrics Director of Fellowship Research Department of Pediatrics Director of Research, Division of Adolescent Medicine Associate Director, Adolescent Medicine Fellowship Program Co-leader, Scholarly Concentrations, Pediatrics Residency Program Stanford University Hoda S. Abdel Magid, MHS, PhDPostdoctoral ScholarDepartment of Health Research & PolicyStanford UniversityHoda S. Abdel Magid, MHS, PhD Postdoctoral Scholar Department of Health Research & Policy Stanford University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Dr. Hoda Magid, my former graduate student, and I wanted to examine whether owning promotional items for e-cigarettes and other non-cigarette products predicted youth use of those products.  Other studies have examined whether ownership of coupons, samples, and other promotional materials influenced cigarette use, but no longitudinal study examined other tobacco products. Our findings show that non-tobacco using youth who own items to promote e-cigarettes and other alternative tobacco products are twice as likely to use alternative tobacco products a year later. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Smoking / 06.05.2019

"E-Cigarette/Electronic Cigarette/E-Cigs/E-Liquid/Vaping/Cloud Chasing" by Vaping360 is licensed under CC BY 2.0 CC BY 2.0MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Jenny L. Carwile, ScD, MPH Department of Medicine Maine Medical Center Portland   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response:  Although e-cigarette aerosols are commonly perceived to be "harmless water vapors" they contain numerous potentially harmful chemicals including volatile organic compounds like formaldehyde, nicotine, heavy metals, and ultrafine particulates. Non-users can be exposed to these chemicals through secondhand exposure. We found that in the US 4.9% of adults who lived in a household with children were current e-cigarette users. (more…)
Addiction, Author Interviews, Cannabis, Pediatrics, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 30.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joan S. Tucker, Ph.D. Senior Behavioral Scientist RAND Corporation Santa Monica, CA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: In light of young adults’ expanding access to cannabis through legalization for recreational use, there has been growing interest in the co-use of cannabis with tobacco/nicotine products.  Although existing data show that young adults who use cannabis products also tend to use tobacco/nicotine products, little is known about how these products are typically used together. Existing research on co-use has mostly focused on combustible products, not accounting for the recent proliferation in cannabis and tobacco/nicotine product types and methods of use (e.g., vaping). Further, not much is known about whether there are important differences between types of co-use (e.g., using both products on the same occasion, one right after another, but not mixing them vs. using both products by mixing them in the same delivery device) in terms of heaviness of use, consequences from use, or associations with young adult functioning. This study was designed as an important first step toward understanding cannabis and tobacco/nicotine co-use behavior among young adults and addressing these gaps in the research literature. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Smoking, Tobacco Research / 29.03.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jidong Huang, PhD Associate Professor Department of Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences School of Public Health, Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: The US tobacco market has been transformed in the past decade by a rapid increase in awareness and use of e-cigarettes among youth and adults. This transformation has been accelerated in recent years by the emergence of new generations of e-cigarettes, such as JUUL e-cigarettes. The exponential growth in e-cigarettes has prompted a renewed interest in the tobacco harm reduction approach, which aims to rapidly curbing the smoking epidemic by encouraging smokers to switch to low risk tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes. There is an ongoing debate about whether the scientific evidence on the health risks of e-cigarettes in comparison with combustible cigarettes has been accurately communicated to the public. Large representative surveys are needed to examine how the public perceives the health risk of e-cigarettes and how their perception change over time. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 07.01.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Hongying Dai, PhD Associate Professor at the College of Public Health University of Nebraska Medical Center. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA) banned cigarettes with characterizing flavors (e.g., candy, fruit, clove) except menthol. However, there are no restrictions on the marketing and sales of flavored non-cigarette tobacco products. This has led to a proliferation of flavored tobacco products in the marketplace. Flavoring has become one of the leading reasons for current tobacco use among youth. It is reported that 81% of e-cigarette users, 79% of hookah users, 74% of cigar users, 69% of smokeless tobacco users, and 67% of snus users attributed the availability of appealing flavors for their tobacco use in 2013–2014 among teenagers aged 12 to 17 years. In November 2018, the FDA proposed new restrictions on flavored tobacco products. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, JAMA, Pediatrics, Smoking / 04.10.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: "Electronic Cigarette/E-Cigs/E-Cigarettes" by Chris F is licensed under CC BY 2.0Brian King, PhD Lead author and Deputy Director for Research Translation Office on Smoking and Health. CDC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Since first entering the U.S. marketplace in 2007, e-cigarettes have been a rapidly evolving product class. Typically, national surveys provide annual, self-reported estimates of e-cigarette use among adults and youth. However, given the dynamic nature of the e-cigarettes landscape, data collected at a sub-annual level can be useful for identifying rapid changes and patterns. For example, retail sales data, which is available at more frequent intervals, such as weekly, can complement annual surveys and help keep a pulse on emerging trends. This study assessed e-cigarette retail sales data in the United States from 2013 through 2017. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Pediatrics, Smoking, Technology, Tobacco Research / 29.06.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jon-Patrick Allem, Ph.D., M.A. Research Scientist Keck School of Medicine of USC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you briefly explain what is meant by JUUL?  Response: The JUUL vaporizer is the latest advancement in electronic cigarette technology, delivering nicotine to the user from a device about the size and shape of a thumb drive. JUUL has taken the electronic cigarette market by storm experiencing a year-over-year growth of about 700 percent. In our most recent study, we wanted to document and describe the public’s initial experiences with JUUL. We collected posts to Twitter containing the term “Juul” from April 1, 2017 to December 14, 2017. We analyzed over 80,000 posts representing tweets from 52,098 unique users during this period and used text classifiers (automated processes that find specified words and phrases) to identify topics in posts. (more…)