Electronic Cigarette Topography in the Natural Environment

Introduction:
This paper presents the results of a clinical, observational, descriptive study to quantify the use patterns of electronic cigarette users in their natural environment. The study aims to provide a better understanding of certain aspects of the puffing topography including puff duration, volume and flow rate, time between puffs and time between sessions. It also seeks to quantify the variation in puffing behaviors among electronic cigarette users as well as the variation for a given user throughout the course of a day.

Key Points:

* The study was conducted with 21 participants who were regular electronic cigarette users and ranged in age from 18 to 29 years.
* Puff topography characteristics such as puff duration, volume, flow rate, time between puffs and time between sessions were measured using a wireless personal use monitor (wPUM) designed and built at RIT.
* The wPUM was able to record fine temporal detail of each puff taken as a function of date and time of day, and data was accumulated on-board the wPUM for the duration of time that the subject uses the monitor.
* after the subject returns the device to the lab, the digital voltage and time stamp data files were exported from the wPUM memory to a computer and analyzed using a processing code.
* The puff topography characteristics computed for each discrete puff within a session were the per-puff duration, per-puff volume and the average flow rate.
* Four puff topography characteristics were computed for each puffing session by each subject including the number of subject puffs per puffing session, the mean puff duration per session, the mean puff flow rate per session, the mean puff volume per session, and the cumulative puff volume per session.
* The study found significant inter-subject variability with regard to puffing topography, suggesting that a range of representative puffing topography patterns should be used to drive machine-puffed electronic cigarette aerosol evaluation systems.

Main Message:
The study highlights the importance of understanding the use patterns of electronic cigarette users in their natural environment. The significant inter-subject variability in puffing topography indicates that a range of representative puffing topography patterns should be used to drive machine-puffed electronic cigarette aerosol evaluation systems. This is crucial for regulatory purposes as it ensures that the testing is representative of real-world use. The study also demonstrates the feasibility of using the wPUM to measure puff topography in a naturalistic setting, providing a valuable tool for future research in this area.

Robinson, R. J., E. C. hensel, P. N. Morabito, and K. a. Roundtree. “Electronic Cigarette Topography in the Natural Environment.” Edited by Silvio Garattini. PLOS ONE 10, no. 6 (June 8, 2015): e0129296. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129296.