Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
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Various brands and types of cigarettes were purchased at retail locations in southern California. Volatile gas samples were analyzed using multicolumn/multidetector gas chromatography. Results showed methyl chloride (CH(3)Cl) levels as much as four orders of magnitude higher than typical urban levels, about 30-500 ppmv (1.5-5.3 mg/cigarette), compared with about 500 pptv in urban air. ⋯ Environmental Protection Agency's maximum exposure limit of 200 ppmv. Light branded cigarettes tended to have higher CH(3)Cl levels than the heavier and filtered brands, possibly showing the dependence of cigarette packing on CH(3)Cl production. In addition, CH(3)Cl emitted from cigarette smoke may prove to be an important anthropogenic source of CH(3)Cl in the United States, at about 5%.
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Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and has been linked to several dire health consequences including cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, knowledge of the associated risks of tobacco use may not be evenly distributed within the population. We analyzed data from the National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS, 2003) to characterize current knowledge of cancer prevention and smoking risk in the adult U. ⋯ Knowledge of lung cancer mortality was lower among females (OR = 0.38), older adults (OR age 65-79 = 0.69; OR age 80+ = 0.48), and non-Hispanic Blacks (OR = 0.64). GIS analyses revealed lower knowledge of smoking risk and higher tobacco use in the regions with higher tobacco production and higher tobacco-related mortality. Disparities in tobacco-related knowledge, morbidity, and mortality underscore the need for continued development and delivery of effective prevention and treatment interventions to reduce the population burden of tobacco-related disease.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A randomized controlled trial of Telephone Counseling with smokeless tobacco users: the ChewFree Minnesota study.
Although a considerable body of evidence supports telephone quit lines for smoking cessation, much less is known about the effectiveness of proactive Telephone Counseling with smokeless tobacco (ST) users. We conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing Telephone Counseling with the distribution of a self-help manual for ST cessation. We recruited 406 adult ST users throughout the state of Minnesota and randomized them to receive either: (a) a self-help manual (Manual only) or (b) a self-help manual plus proactive telephone-based cessation counseling (Telephone Counseling). ⋯ We found older age, lower dependency, and increased readiness predicted quitting success. Proactive telephone-based counseling is an effective strategy for improving cessation rates among ST users. Future research should determine the components contributing to the intervention success.
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Clinical Trial
Potential reduced exposure products (PREPs) for smokeless tobacco users: clinical evaluation methodology.
Several potential reduced exposure products (PREPs) for smokeless tobacco (SLT) users are marketed in the United States, though their effects are largely unknown. These products include some that are low in tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNs), like Stonewall, a pressed tobacco tablet, and General snus, a moist snuff product produced in Sweden. Methodology assessing the toxicant exposure and effects of cigarette-like PREPs for smokers has been developed, and might be modified for use in evaluating PREPs for SLT users. ⋯ Compared with own brand, Stonewall was associated with lower levels of cotinine and NNAL, while General snus was associated with similar levels of cotinine and lower levels of NNAL. Abstinence symptoms generally did not differ across tobacco conditions. These results show that clinical laboratory methods can be used to evaluate the toxicant exposure and abstinence symptom suppression associated with PREPs for SLT users.
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Smoking cessation can reduce both morbidity and mortality among patients who have heart disease. China has the largest number of smokers in the world, and most smokers have low motivation to quit. Regular smoking cessation services are almost nonexistent in China, and little is known about the psychometric properties of instruments in assessing smoking self-efficacy in Chinese, whose cultures differ greatly from those of Westerners. ⋯ Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that successful quitting at 1 month and at 3 months were predicted by higher external stimuli score, fewer cigarettes smoked per day, lower FTND scores, and being in the intervention group. We concluded that the Chinese version of the SEQ-12 is a valid and reliable instrument for Chinese cardiac patients who smoke. The SEQ-12 can be used to assess smokers' self-efficacy so that appropriate smoking cessation interventions can be provided.