Cold Turkey and Hot Vapes? A National Study of Young Adult Cigarette Cessation Strategies.
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Watkins SL, Thrul J, Max W, Ling P.
Cold Turkey and Hot Vapes? A National Study of Young Adult Cigarette Cessation Strategies.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2018 Dec 26. doi: 10.1093/ntr/nty270. [Epub ahead of print]
Young adults have high smoking rates and low utilization of evidence-based smoking cessation strategies. We investigated smoking cessation intentions, strategy use, and socioeconomic predictors of strategy use among young adult smokers (age 18-24) and compared patterns to those of older adults (age 25-64). We used a population-based sample from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study of young adult (n=1,881) and older adult (n=6,366) established smokers of conventional cigarettes at Wave 1 (2013-2014), who were surveyed at Wave 2 (2014-2015). Simple regression analysis compared intentions to quit between age groups. Among Wave 1 smokers who reported a Wave 2 quit attempt (young adults (YA) n=748; older adults (OA) n=2,068), bivariate and multinomial logistic regression estimated differences in use of behavioral support, pharmacotherapy, product substitution, and unassisted quit attempts. Interaction terms estimated age-group differences in relationships between predictors and cessation strategy use. Young adults planned to quit on a longer time frame, expressed lower interest in quitting, and were more confident they would be successful, compared to older adults. Young adults were significantly less likely to use pharmacotherapy (AOR: 0.15; CI: 0.09, 0.24; reference: quitting unassisted). Both groups reported using product substitution (YA: 31.6%; OA: 28.5%), primarily with e-cigarettes, more than any evidence-based cessation strategy. Socioeconomic predictors of cessation strategy use did not differ between age groups. More research on why young adult smokers underutilize evidence-based cessation support is needed, as are innovative efforts to increase intentions to quit and utilization of cessation assistance. Young adulthood is a key transition time for tobacco use, and early cessation substantially reduces the risk of morbidity and mortality from smoking. In the context of high e-cigarette and poly-tobacco use, this study finds young adults have significantly less intention to quit than older adults and are less likely to use evidence-based cessation strategies to help quit. Innovative methods are needed to increase young adult intentions to quit and use of evidence-based cessation assistance.
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