Primack BA, et al. - A scrutiny was conducted of the connection between baseline e-cigarette use and subsequent initiation of cigarette smoking among initially never-smoking young adults. The results shed light on an independent link between baseline e-cigarette use with the initiation of traditional cigarette smoking at 18 months. This, in turn, supported the policy and educational interventions formulated for decreasing the use of e-cigarettes among non-smokers.

Methods

• The plot of this trial was a prospective cohort study. It included analyses at baseline (March 2013) and follow-up (October 2014).
• Sampling frames were utilized in this research, representing 97% of the U.S. population for enrolling a nationally-representative sample of never-smoking young adults aged 18-30.
• The independent variable was baseline ever use of e-cigarettes.
• Initiation of traditional cigarette smoking between baseline and 18-month follow-up was included as the main outcome measure.

Results

• The completion of baseline surveys was undertaken by 1,506 never-smoking young adults, of whom 915 (60.8%) completed follow-up.
• No demographic variations were reported between responders and non-responders.
• After applying survey weights-which accounted for both non-response and over or under coverage-it was discovered that 2.5% of the represented population of never-smokers (801,010 of 32,040,393) used e-cigarettes at baseline.
• As per the findings, cigarette smoking was initiated by 47.7% of e-cigarette users and 10.2% of non-users (P=.001).
• The fully-adjusted multivariable models revealed an independent link between e-cigarette use at baseline with initiation of smoking at 18 months (adjusted odds ratio=6.8, 95% confidence interval=1.7-28.3).
• Similar results were yielded in terms of magnitude and were statistically prominent in all sensitivity analyses.