Could Vape Pens Encourage the Desire to Smoke?
A new study found that visual exposure to a second-generation electronic nicotine delivery system (END), also known as vape pens, increased the urge to smoke in young adult smokers as much as traditional combustible cigarettes.
Researchers studied whether vape pens could be conditioned cues that evoked smoking urge and behaviors in 108 young adult smokers who smoked 5 or more cigarettes per week. Participants were randomized and either saw a traditional combustible cigarette or a second-generation END vaping pen in a controlled laboratory setting.
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Researchers assessed the desire and urge for cigarettes and e-cigarettes both before and after the cue exposure, and explored smoking behavior in 26 participants in a smoking latency phase after cue exposure.
Visual stimulus of ENDS vape pen evoked the urge and desire for a combustible cigarette to the same extent as the traditional cigarette cue, and both cues produced similar time to initiate smoking in the smoking latency phase.
In addition, researchers also found that ENDS vape pen produced desires and urges for young adults to smoke regardless of use history in a participant. Participants who never used an ENDS vape pen experienced similar urges to smoke as long-time ENDS vape pen users.
The study demonstrated that ENDS vape pens were as potent visual stimulus as traditional cigarettes in both daily and non-daily young adult smokers.
“Given the increasing popularity of ENDS tank system products, passive exposures to these devices will no doubt increase, and may contribute to tobacco use in young adult smokers,” the researchers concluded.
—Melissa Weiss
Reference:
King AC, Smith LJ, and McNamara PJ. Second generation electronic nicotine delivery system vape pen exposure generalizes as a smoking cue [published online January 12, 2017]. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntw327.