Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
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Reducing the widespread retail availability of tobacco could help realize tobacco endgame strategies. We assessed New Zealand smokers' perceptions of five potential policies designed to reduce the retail supply of tobacco, relative to a "benchmark" policy of annual tobacco tax increases. ⋯ Tobacco control advocates have proposed a range of policies to reduce tobacco retail outlet density, as part of endgame strategies. There are no published data on the relative effectiveness of different approaches, therefore it is unclear which would be most likely to reduce smoking prevalence. This study provides an insight into smokers' perspectives on the effectiveness of retail reduction strategies and indicates that some of these could be at least as effective in reducing initiation and promoting quitting as tax increases. Smokers' perceptions of the relative effectiveness of these policy options may help inform the advocacy efforts of the sector.
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To gain a better understanding of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use behavior and experience among adult e-cigarette users, with the goal of informing development of future e-cigarette use measures. ⋯ The current study provides timely information on adult e-cigarette use behavior, which is a crucial step in measuring this new phenomenon and assessing the risks associated with using e-cigarette products. Our findings reveal that vaping is not a mere replacement for combustible cigarette smoking and that many users of e-cigarettes enjoy product characteristics such as flavors and "clouds" that are unavailable in combustible cigarettes. Therefore, commonly available cigarette smoking measures are not well suited to measurement of e-cigarette use behavior, and indication that new measures need to be developed to accurately track e-cigarette use.
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We sought to assess physician knowledge/beliefs, self-efficacy, and experience/practice patterns surrounding smoking cessation and electronic cigarettes. ⋯ This study documents several important previously poorly characterized aspects of the role of electronic cigarettes in clinical care. The majority of US physicians are discussing electronic cigarettes in clinical contexts and a substantial proportion of US physicians have recommended electronic cigarettes to their patients. The extent of physician engagement on the topic of electronic cigarettes should be met with increased efforts to better characterize electronic cigarettes' appropriate role in smoking cessation and reduction.
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Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are being used as cessation aids by many smokers despite a lack of empirical evidence regarding their safety and efficacy. We analyzed the association of e-cigarette use and smoking abstinence in a population of smokers accessing standard smoking cessation treatment (nicotine replacement therapy [NRT] plus behavioral counseling) through primary care clinics in Ontario, Canada. ⋯ This study confirms previous findings from observational studies regarding the negative association between e-cigarette use and smoking cessation, but in a large cohort of smokers enrolled in an evidence-based treatment program. The implications of these findings are that concurrent use of e-cigarettes during a quit attempt utilizing cost-free evidence-based treatment (NRT plus behavioral counseling) does not confer any added benefit and may hamper successful quitting.
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The public health impact of vaporized nicotine products (VNPs) such as e-cigarettes is unknown at this time. VNP uptake may encourage or deflect progression to cigarette smoking in those who would not have otherwise smoked, thereby undermining or accelerating reductions in smoking prevalence seen in recent years. ⋯ Previous models of VNP use do not incorporate whether youth and young adults initiating VNP would have been likely to have been a smoker in the absence of VNPs. This study provides a decision-theoretic model of VNP use in a young cohort that incorporates tendencies toward smoking and shows that, under most plausible scenarios, VNP use yields public health gains. The model makes explicit the type of surveillance information needed to better estimate the effect of new products and thereby inform public policy.