Passive exposure to electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use increases desire for combustible and e-cigarettes in young adult smokers.
BACKGROUND
Passive exposure to combustible cigarette use has been shown to act as a cue to increase smoking urge. Given the resemblance of e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) to combustible cigarettes, we examined whether these devices could also act as a cue to increase smoking desire and urges in those passively exposed.


METHODS
Young adult daily smokers (age 18-35 years; N=60) completed subjective ratings before and after exposure to a study confederate drinking bottled water (control cue) and then smoking either a combustible or e-cigarette (active cue). Smoking desire and urge ratings were measured with visual analogue scale items for desire for a regular and an e-cigarette and the Brief Questionnaire of Smoking Urges.


RESULTS
Passive exposure to both the e-cigarette and combustible cigarette cue significantly increased observers' ratings of desire and urge to smoke a regular cigarette (all ps<0.05). Exposure to the e-cigarette cue but not the regular cigarette cue also increased desire to smoke an e-cigarette (p<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
The results provide the first evidence in a controlled setting that electronic cigarette exposure may evoke smoking urges in young adult daily smokers. With replication, these findings may have relevance for ENDS regulation and policy.
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Andrea C
AC
King
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Lia J
LJ
Smith
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Patrick J
PJ
McNamara
University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Alicia K
AK
Matthews
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Daniel J
DJ
Fridberg
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003463:Cues; D066300:Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D062789:Tobacco Products; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution; D055815:Young Adult
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution