Sexual and Gender Minority U.S. Youth Tobacco Use: Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study Wave 3, 2015–2016

Introduction:
This text presents the findings of a study that assessed secondhand exposures to electronic cigarette emissions in a real-use setting with a high concentration of e-cigarette use. The study used biomonitoring to characterize passive e-cigarette exposures and analyzed urine and saliva samples from participants before and after attending e-cigarette events.

Key Points:

* The study was conducted at four e-cigarette events in the Southeastern United States between April 2016 and March 2017.
* Study participants were recruited from University of Georgia students, staff, or friends and family members of the researchers. Participants could not be current e-cigarette, tobacco, nicotine replacement therapy, or smokeless tobacco users or live with anyone who uses these products.
* Urine and saliva samples were collected from each participant before entering the venue, immediately prior to or just after they exited the venue, 4-h after exiting the venue, and first thing in the morning the day after the event.
* The Division of Laboratory Sciences, National Center for Environmental Health, U.S. CDC analyzed urine samples for cotinine, trans-3'-hydroxycotinine, NNAL, N'-nitrosonornicotine (NNN), N'-nitrosoanabasine (NAB) and N'-nitrosoanatabine (NAT), 8-isoprostane, 3-HPMA, and CEMA. Saliva samples were analyzed for cotinine and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine.
* The study found that secondhand e-cigarette exposures resulted in significant changes in exposure biomarker concentrations of both nicotine and acrolein but did not change exposure to tobacco-specific nitrosamines.
* The study also found that urinary and salivary cotinine, urinary trans-3'-hydroxycotinine, and urinary 3-HPMA concentrations varied significantly across events and sampling times.
* The authors note that additional research is needed to understand the relationship between biomarker concentrations and environmental concentrations of toxicants in e-cigarette emissions.

Main Message:
The study found that secondhand exposures to electronic cigarette emissions in a real-use setting with a high concentration of e-cigarette use resulted in significant changes in exposure biomarker concentrations of both nicotine and acrolein. However, the study did not find any changes in exposure to tobacco-specific nitrosamines. The authors note that understanding the secondhand exposures to toxicants in e-cigarette emissions under real-use conditions in natural settings is an important public health priority.

Johnson, Sarah E., Erin Keely O’Brien, Blair Coleman, Greta K. Tessman, Leah Hoffman, and Janine Delahanty. “Sexual and Gender Minority U.S. Youth Tobacco Use: Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study Wave 3, 2015–2016.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 57, no. 2 (August 2019): 256–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2019.03.021.