Exclusive and concurrent use of cigarettes and alternative tobacco products among Hong Kong adolescents

Harm perceptions, JUUL dependence, and other tobacco product use among young adults who use JUUL

INTRODUCTION

The study identified groups of JUUL using young adults based on their use patterns and compared harm perceptions, JUUL dependence, and other tobacco product use among these groups.

METHODS

Online cross-sectional survey data were gathered in March 2019 from 667 undergraduate students who used JUUL weekly (50.4% females, average age: 20.3 years) at a southwest U.S. university.

RESULTS

Latent class analysis identified four groups of young adults who used JUUL: 1) Light Social JUUL Using Young Adults (LS, 52.5%) who used JUUL occasionally with friends when drinking alcohol, 2) Daily Sensation Seekers (DSS, 16.2%) who used JUUL daily with alcohol, 3) Daily Activity Driven JUUL Using Young Adults (DAD, 26.0%) who used JUUL daily while drinking, watching media, or studying, and 4) Daily All Occasion JUUL Using Young Adults (DAO, 5.3%) who used JUUL heavily, daily and in various occasions. While all four groups reported some extent of JUUL dependence, DAO reported the highest dependence and were more likely than LS to have used cigarettes and other e-cigarettes besides JUUL. They also tended to believe different pod flavors could cause different types of lung damage while the other groups were unsure/disagreed with this belief. LS were more likely than DSS and DAD to believe that JUUL use indicated openness to new experiences.

CONCLUSION

Young adults with different JUUL use patterns perceived JUUL harms differently and faced varied risks of JUUL dependence and other tobacco product use. Effective cessation interventions should be adapted to meet the needs of these groups.

Intention to Quit among Smokers in Kazakhstan: Data from 2014 Global Adult Tobacco Survey

Kazakhstan is one of the countries with higher-than-average smoking prevalence and tobacco-related mortality. Intention to quit is a key step toward smoking cessation, yet has not been studied in Kazakhstan. This study explored prevalence and correlates of intention to quit among smokers in Kazakhstan. We drew data from the nationally representative survey, the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), conducted during 2014 in Kazakhstan. Our sample consisted of 649 smokers aged ≥15 years. We examined prevalence of intention to quit by demographics, knowledge of tobacco-related diseases, nicotine dependence, attempt to quit in the past 12 months, household smoking restrictions, and awareness of antismoking messages. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to test the significance of these correlates. Prevalence of intention to quit was around 75.9% among smokers. Older age (p < 0.001), knowledge of tobacco-related diseases (p < 0.01), moderate nicotine dependence (p < 0.001), attempt to quit within the past 12 months (p < 0.001), and having household smoking restrictions (p < 0.001) were all significant correlates. We suggest investing in efforts to promote cessation activities for smokers of all ages, to disseminate comprehensive information on tobacco-related diseases, and to uphold and strengthen policies on smoking bans.