Is E-cigarette Use associated With Persistence or Discontinuation of Combustible Cigarettes? a 24-Month Longitudinal Investigation in Young adult Binge Drinkers.

Introduction:
This text summarizes a research study examining the longitudinal patterns of combustible tobacco and e-cigarette use over 24 months in young adult binge drinkers. The study aims to understand the relationship between alcohol use and e-cigarette use and its impact on smoking cessation. The study used a pooled dataset of 1002 participants from the United States and Canada and employed latent transition analysis to identify patterns of cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use over time.

Key Points:

* The study identified four classes of users: e-cigarettes-only users, dual-product users, combustible-only smokers, and nonusers.
* Dual-product use was associated with discontinuation of combustible tobacco over time, and e-cigarette-only use was not associated with subsequent combustible tobacco use.
* at 24 months, 63% of e-cigarettes-only users transitioned to abstinence, with 37% continuing e-cigarettes-only use and 0% transitioning to dual or combustible cigarette use.
* The most common transition for combustible-only smokers was to abstinence, followed by persistence of combustible-only status.
* The study controlled for confounding variables such as nicotine dependence and alcohol severity.
* The sample was limited to young adult binge drinkers, which may limit the generalizability of the findings.
* The study's strengths include the large sample size, longitudinal design, and use of latent transition analysis.

Main Message:
The study suggests that concurrent or exclusive e-cigarette use is not a risk factor for the persistence or development of combustible tobacco use in young adult binge drinkers. Instead, dual-product use may reflect a transitional pattern away from combustible use, toward discontinuation. These findings have implications for tobacco control policies and interventions, particularly in high-risk populations such as young adult binge drinkers. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and explore the underlying mechanisms.

Martinez-Loredo V, González-Roz a, Dawkins L, Singh D, Murphy JG, MacKillop J. Is E-cigarette Use associated With Persistence or Discontinuation of Combustible Cigarettes? a 24-Month Longitudinal Investigation in Young adult Binge Drinkers. Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. 2022;24(7):962-969. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntac049