Research digest July 2020

This page provides a non-exhaustive list of tobacco-related research articles identified weekly from PubMed by the ASH Scotland Information Service. 

Research period: 27/06 - 31/07

Research Trawl 25^th – 31^rd July

Tobacco Product Promotions Remain Ubiquitous and are Associated with Use and Susceptibility to Use among Adolescents

Published: 29/07/2020, Nicotine and Tobacco Research

In the US, cigarette companies are restricted from advertising on television/radio, vaping promotions have been largely unrestricted. Conclusions Tobacco product promotions remain ubiquitous and are significantly associated with adolescents’ tobacco product use and susceptibility to vape. Peers and family are important social influences and may reflect indirect channels of tobacco marketing.

Tobacco sales to underage buyers in France: findings from a mystery shopping study

Published: 25/07/2020, Public Health

Results: The law is not respected. Two of three sellers (65.2%) were willing to make an illegal sale to a 17-year-old minor, and almost one in 12 (8.1%) were willing to sell to a 12-year-old child attempting to buy tobacco. Illegal sales were more likely to be made by male sellers, retailing in big cities, when there were no in-shop queues, and to 17-year-old females. The absence of the mandatory enforcement poster flagging up the ban on the sale of tobacco to minors appears to be a strong factor associated with sales to minors.

Tobacco Smoking Rates in a National Cohort of People with Substance Use Disorder Receiving Treatment

Published: 27/07/2020, European Addiction Research

Background and aim: The prevalence of tobacco smoking among individuals receiving treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) remains high. The aim was to use the English National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) SUD data to investigate tobacco smoking prevalence among subgroups of adults over the course of treatment. Results: At baseline (treatment start), 48.7% reported smoking tobacco; the highest rate was observed in opiate users (61%). Overall, the level of smoking at the latest assessment was 48.5%. Reductions (of between 5 and 7%) were observed among those who finished treatment but only within the final stages of treatment. A 5% increase in smoking was observed in those still in treatment within the study timeframe.

Youth vaping and smoking and parental vaping: a panel survey

Published: 28/07/2020, BMC Public Health

Conclusions: While measured confounding accounted for much of the associations between youth vaping and youth smoking, indicating support for underlying propensities, our estimates suggested residual effects that could only be explained away by considerable unmeasured confounding or by smoking leading to vaping. Estimated effects of youth vaping on youth smoking were stronger among the general youth population than among the small group of youth who actually vaped. Associations of parental vaping with youth smoking and vaping were either explained by measured confounding or could be relatively easily explained by unmeasured confounding.

Interaction of smoking, hyperhomocysteinemia, and metabolic syndrome with carotid atherosclerosis: A cross-sectional study in 972 non-diabetic patients

Published: 26/05/2020, Nutrition

Conclusions: Patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and smoking or hyperhomocysteinemia are at particularly high cardiovascular risk. Targeted atherosclerosis prevention should include identification and treatment of MetS, smoking, and hyperhomocysteinemia (including that due to unrecognized metabolic vitamin B12 deficiency).

E-Cigarette Use to Aid Long-Term Smoking Cessation in the US: Prospective Evidence from the PATH Cohort Study

Published: 27/07/2020, American Journal of Epidemiology

We found that, among US smokers who used e-cigarettes to help quit, 12.9% (95% CI: 9.1%,16.7%) successfully attained long-term abstinence. However, there was no difference compared to matched non-e-cigarette-users (cigarette abstinence difference: 2%; 95% CI: -3%, 7%). Furthermore, fewer e-cigarette users were long-term abstinent from nicotine products (nicotine abstinence difference: -4%; 95% CI: -7%, -1%); about two-thirds of e-cigarette users who successfully quit smoking continued to use e-cigarettes. These results suggest that e-cigarettes may not be an effective cessation aid for adult smokers, and instead may contribute to continuing nicotine dependence

Research Trawl 17^th – 24^rd July

Longitudinal evaluation of the impact of standardised packaging and minimum excise tax on tobacco sales and industry revenue in the UK

Published: 16/07/2020, Tobacco Control

Results Post-implementation, the average monthly decline in stick sales was 6.4 million (95% CI 0.1 million to 12.7 million) sticks faster than pre-legislation, almost doubling the speed of decline. Sales of cheap FM brands, previously increasing, plateaued after implementation. Company monthly net revenues declined from a stable £231 million, pre-legislation, to £198 million in April 201

Impact of alcohol and drug use on smoking and cessation in socioeconomically disadvantaged young adults

Published: 26/05/2020, Addictive Behaviour

Discussion: Co-use of other substances emerged as a reason for smoking and a barrier to quitting, including a concern that quitting smoking would trigger drug or alcohol relapse. Findings support demand for interventions that address substance co-use to improve smoking cessation in SDYA smokers.

Co-occurring Use of Cannabis and Tobacco and the Presence of Acute Respiratory Symptoms among Young Adult Light and Intermittent Smokers

Published: 22/07/2020, Substance Use and Misuse

Conclusions/Importance: Although co-occurring use of tobacco and cannabis by young adults may represent experimental use of multiple substances, it may also promote or exacerbate acute symptoms of respiratory illness. Further exploration with more granular patterns of co-use and across different routes of administration is warranted.

Is vaping better than smoking cigarettes?

Published: 23/07/2020,  European Heart Journal

[Review]

Pain, nicotine, and tobacco smoking: current state of the science

Published: August/2020, Pain

[Review] excerpt: ….Consistent with this perspective, smoking can lead to the development of chronic pain, and pain can motivate nicotine/tobacco use and impede cessation.22,24,98 The goals of this narrative review are to provide a critical update on the extant literature on pain, nicotine, and tobacco smoking, and to outline clinical applications and next steps for future research.

The Impact of Smoking and Multiple Health Behaviors on All-Cause Mortality

Published: 23/07/2020, Behavioural Medicine

We examined the impact of smoking in the context of multiple health behaviors on all-cause mortality using a nationally representative sample of adults aged 30 and older in the United States.

Our findings demonstrated that smoking led to the highest mortality risk among the four risk behaviors examined, but more than half of smokers engaged in at least one additional health risk behavior. Smokers who engaged in multiple health behaviors experienced higher increased mortality risks: smoking combined with one other health risk behavior increased mortality risk by 32% and by 82% when combined with two behaviors. Engaging in all four risk behaviors more than doubled the mortality risk of smokers.

The Road to Vaping: E-cigarette Susceptibility and Curiosity Among U.S. Adolescents Susceptible and Nonsusceptible to Cigarette Smoking

Published: 22/07/2020, Health Education Behaviour

Conclusions. Future regulatory policies and tobacco control prevention campaigns should focus on increasing health awareness (e.g., potential harm and addictiveness) of e-cigarettes among adolescents and restrict marketing and the use of e-cigarettes in public places.

Smoking and bladder cancer: review of the recent literature

Published: 20/07/2020, Current Opinion in Urology

Summary Tobacco smoking is responsible for approximately half of bladder cancer cases, and is associated with poor oncological outcomes. Despite smoking being a well-known risk factor, counselling and knowledge in this area are insufficient. Appropriate smoking cessation interventions and patient information are required to improve patient health and optimize bladder cancer survival.

Research Trawl 27^th June – 3^rd July

Exploring how social media exposure and interactions are associated with ENDS and tobacco use in adolescents from the PATH study

Published: 29/06/2020, Nicotine and Tobacco Research

Results Passive behaviors on social media were related to higher likelihoods of starting to use ENDS and other tobacco products. Additionally, active behaviors on social media were related to higher likelihoods for the initiation and persistence of tobacco use. In particular, sending tobacco content to other users was further associated with a higher likelihood of escalation of tobacco product use.

Support for minimum legal sales age laws set to age 21 across Australia, Canada, England and US: Findings from the 2018 ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey

Published: 01/07/2020, Nicotine and Tobacco Research

Conclusions Most current and former smokers, including a sizable minority of those aged ≤20 years, support raising the legal age of purchasing cigarettes/tobacco to 21.

Exploratory analyses of the popularity and efficacy of four behavioral methods of gradual smoking cessation

Published: 01/07/2020, Nicotine and Tobacco Research

Conclusions: Future research and practice could focus more heavily on the SR (Smoking on a increasing time scale) and SFP (smoke free period) methods as these appeared notably more popular than HR (cutting out cigarettes during a particular time of day). There was substantial imprecision in the efficacy data, which should be treated with caution; however none of the gradual cessation methods showed clear evidence of being more efficacious than others

Ends Device Type and Initiation of Combustible Tobacco Products among Adolescents

Published: 29/06/2020, Nicotine and Tobacco Research

The odds of initiating combustible tobacco use subsequent to ENDS initiation were significantly lower among those who reported using Cartridges as their initial device type compared to those who reported Refillables as their initial device type, and the odd for initiating combustible tobacco use around the same times as ENDS were significantly higher among cartridge users compared to refillables as initial type. No significant differences were found in adjusted models when Disposables were compared to Refillables and Cartridges to Disposables.

Budgetary impact from multiple perspectives of sustained antitobacco national media campaigns to reduce the harms of cigarette smoking

Published: 20/07/2020, Tobacco Control

Results The microsimulation predicts that a 10-year national smoking cessation campaign would produce net savings of $10.4, $5.1, $1.4, $3.6 and $0.2 billion from the societal, all-payer, Medicare, Medicaid and private insurer perspectives, respectively. National antitobacco media campaigns of 1, 5 and 10-year durations could produce net savings for Medicaid and Medicare within 2 years, and for private insurers within 6–9 years. A 10-year campaign would reduce adult cigarette smoking prevalence by 1.2 percentage points, prevent 23 500 smoking-attributable deaths over the first 10 years. In sensitivity analysis, media campaign costs would be offset by reductions in medical care spending of smoking among all payers combined within 6 years in all tested scenarios.

Analysis of FDA’s IQOS marketing authorisation and its policy impacts

Published: 29/06/2020, Tobacco Control

Conclusion FDA’s decision allowing IQOS to be marketed in the USA disregarded valid scientific evidence and misapplied the public health standard mandated by law. This decision may have important health impacts, influence marketing IQOS outside the USA and erode public confidence in FDA’s future PMTA decision

Effect of flavour manipulation on ENDS (JUUL) users’ experiences, puffing behaviour and nicotine exposure among US college students

Published: 02/07/2020, Tobacco Control

Results Increases were observed on measures of satisfaction, taste, enjoyment, urges to vape/smoke, pleasure, product appeal and increased concentration following using the preferred flavour pod (p values <0.05). Compared with preferred flavour, participants in the tobacco flavour were less motivated to use it in the future (70.9 vs 19.1 scores, p<0.001), even if it was the only product on the market

Epidemiology of the 2020 Pandemic of COVID-19 in the State of Texas: The First Month of Community Spread

Published: Aug/2020, Journal of Community Health

…Counties with the highest case fatality rate (> 10%) had a higher proportion of non-Hispanic Black residents, adults aged 65 and older, and adults smoking, but lower number of ICU beds per 100,000 population, and number of primary care physicians per 1000 population

The Effect of Cigarette Smoking on the Semen Parameters of Infertile Men

Published: 01/07/2020, Gynecology Endocrinology

Conclusion: We concluded that smoking had a significant and independent effect on the sperm concentration in a semen analysis. Other parameters, like semen volume, sperm motility, sperm vitality and sperm morphology were not influenced by smoking

The Past Is Not the Future in Tobacco Control

Published: 27/06/2020, Preventative Medicine

Abstract excerpt: In this paper we have attempted to identify missed opportunities to change the trajectory of smoking and smoking caused diseases in America over the past 100 years. Many of the missed opportunities identified are due to the actions of cigarette manufacturers who misled the public about the dangers of cigarette smoking, the addictiveness of nicotine, and the feasibility of providing lower risk alternative nicotine delivery products to addicted smoker. An important lesson learned from the past is that treating all tobacco/nicotine products as equivalently harmful is counterproductive to public health as it only serves to protect the most lethal nicotine product - cigarettes.

The Two-Way Relationship Between Nicotine and Cortical Activity: A Systematic Review of Neurobiological and Treatment Aspects

Published: 27/06/2020, European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

[Review]