Machine Learning-Based Nicotine Addiction Prediction Models for Youth E-Cigarette and Waterpipe (Hookah) Users

An ecological examination of early adolescent e-cigarette use: A machine learning approach to understanding a health epidemic

E-cigarette use among adolescents is a national health epidemic spreading faster than researchers can amass evidence for risk and protective factors and long-term consequences associated with use. New technologies, such as machine learning, may assist prevention programs in identifying at risk youth and potential targets for intervention before adolescents enter developmental periods where e-cigarette use escalates. The present study utilized machine learning algorithms to explore a wide array of individual and socioecological variables in relation to patterns of lifetime e-cigarette use during early adolescence (i.e., exclusive, or with tobacco cigarettes). Extant data was used from 14,346 middle school students (Mage = 12.5, SD = 1.1; 6th and 8th grades) who participated in the Utah Prevention Needs Assessment. Students self-reported their substance use behaviors and related risk and protective factors. Machine learning algorithms examined 112 individual and socioecological factors as potential classifiers of lifetime e-cigarette use outcomes. The elastic net algorithm achieved outstanding classification for lifetime exclusive (AUC = .926) and dual use (AUC = .944) on a validation test set. Six high value classifiers were identified that varied in importance by outcome: Lifetime alcohol or marijuana use, perception of e-cigarette availability and risk, school suspension(s), and perceived risk of smoking marijuana regularly. Specific classifiers were important for lifetime exclusive (parent's attitudes regarding student vaping, best friend[s] tried alcohol or marijuana) and dual use (best friend[s] smoked cigarettes, lifetime inhalant use). Our findings provide specific targets for the adaptation of existing substance use prevention programs to address early adolescent e-cigarette use.

Prospective predictors of electronic nicotine delivery system initiation in tobacco naive young adults: A machine learning approach

The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is increasing among young adults. However, there are few studies regarding predictors of ENDS initiation in tobacco-naive young adults. Identifying the risk and protective factors of ENDS initiation that are specific to tobacco-naive young adults will enable the creation of targeted policies and prevention programs. This study used machine learning (ML) to create predictive models, identify risk and protective factors for ENDS initiation for tobacco-naive young adults, and the relationship between these predictors and the prediction of ENDS initiation. We used nationally representative data of tobacco-naive young adults in the U.S drawn from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) longitudinal cohort survey. Respondents were young adults (18-24 years) who had never used any tobacco products in Wave 4 and who completed Waves 4 and 5 interviews. ML techniques were used to create models and determine predictors at 1-year follow-up from Wave 4 data. Among the 2,746 tobacco-naive young adults at baseline, 309 initiated ENDS use at 1-year follow-up. The top five prospective predictors of ENDS initiation were susceptibility to ENDS, increased days of physical exercise specifically designed to strengthen muscles, frequency of social media use, marijuana use and susceptibility to cigarettes. This study identified previously unreported and emerging predictors of ENDS initiation that warrant further investigation and provided comprehensive information on the predictors of ENDS initiation. Furthermore, this study showed that ML is a promising technique that can aid ENDS monitoring and prevention programs.

Prediction of Problematic Smartphone Use: A Machine Learning Approach

While smartphone addiction is becoming a recent concern with the exponential increase in the number of smartphone users, it is difficult to predict problematic smartphone users based on the usage characteristics of individual smartphone users. This study aimed to explore the possibility of predicting smartphone addiction level with mobile phone log data. By Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), 29,712 respondents completed the Smartphone Addiction Scale developed in 2017. Integrating basic personal characteristics and smartphone usage information, the data were analyzed using machine learning techniques (decision tree, random forest, and Xgboost) in addition to hypothesis tests. In total, 27 variables were employed to predict smartphone addiction and the accuracy rate was the highest for the random forest (82.59%) model and the lowest for the decision tree model (74.56%). The results showed that users’ general information, such as age group, job classification, and sex did not contribute much to predicting their smartphone addiction level. The study can provide directions for future work on the detection of smartphone addiction with log-data, which suggests that more detailed smartphone’s log-data will enable more accurate results.