EXHALE

UW Awarded $3.7 Million Grant to Study E-cigs and Smoking

The University of Wisconsin was awarded a $3.7 million grant to further study dual use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes for five years. The grant was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the United States Food and Drug Administration.

Exhale Study Shows Dual Users Smoke Less, But Don’t Intend to Quit

UW-CTRI has published findings from the Exhale Study, which included people who either smoked or smoked and vaped (dual users), in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. Read more
UW-CTRI researchers also found that participants who both smoked and vaped were more likely to quit vaping than to quit smoking.

Publications

Piper ME, Baker TB, Benowitz NL, Kobinsky K, Jorenby DE. Dual Users Compared to Smokers; Demographics, Dependence, and Biomarkers. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2018. 2018 Oct 26.
Piper ME, Baker TB, Benowitz NL, Jorenby DE. Changes in Use Patterns OVER ONE YEAR Among Smokers and Dual Users of Combustible and Electronic Cigarettes. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2019.
Piper ME, Baker TB, Benowitz NL, Jorenby DE. E-cigarette Dependence Measures in Dual Users; Reliability and Relations with Dependence Criteria and E-cigarette Cessation. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2019.
Piper ME, Baker TB, Mermelstein R, Benowitz N, Jorenby DE. (2020) Relations Among Cigarette Dependence, E-cigarette Dependence, and Key Dependence Criteria Among Dual Users of Combustible and E-cigarettes. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. Online September 21, 2020.

Research Studies

Exhale Study Participants Smoke and Vape for Science in Annex

E-cigs are electronic devices that allow users to inhale nicotine vapor (“vaping”). They are largely unregulated in the United States. This research provided in-depth, longitudinal information, based on real-time reports, which addressed key priorities that may inform regulatory and health agencies, including understanding the relations between vaping and:

1) Nicotine dependence;
2) Changes in rates of smoking conventional cigarettes;
3) Health outcomes such as evidence of exposure to carcinogens, as well as acute and long-term pulmonary health;
4) Attempts to quit smoking and the success of those attempts.

Specifically, UW-CTRI identified and followed over time:

1) 150 participants who exclusively smoke cigarettes.
2) 250 participants who both smoke and vape.

Researchers used smart phones and other tools to collect information on patterns of use of these products, levels of addiction, withdrawal symptoms, success quitting versus relapse, lifestyle factors, carcinogen exposure, and how one group of participants compares to the other over time.

“This research will allow us to examine the public health effects of smoking and vaping during this critical period of emerging policy discussions,” said UW-CTRI Associate Director of Research Dr. Megan Piper, co-principal investigator on the grant with UW-CTRI Director of Clinical Services Dr. Douglas Jorenby.

Exhale Study Participants Smoke and Vape for Science in Annex

For more on vaping, click here.