Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jun;16(6):672-81.
doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntt212. Epub 2013 Dec 27.

Cigarette smokers' use of unconventional tobacco products and associations with quitting activity: findings from the ITC-4 U.S. cohort

Karin A Kasza  1 , Maansi Bansal-Travers, Richard J O'Connor, Wilson M Compton, Anna Kettermann, Nicolette Borek, Geoffrey T Fong, K Michael Cummings, Andrew J Hyland
Affiliations

Cigarette smokers' use of unconventional tobacco products and associations with quitting activity: findings from the ITC-4 U.S. cohort

Karin A Kasza et al. Nicotine Tob Res. 2014 Jun.

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and correlates of use of nicotine-containing tobacco products such as cigars, pipe tobacco, and cigarettes that promise less exposure to toxins; e-cigarettes; and smokeless tobacco products among a cohort of conventional cigarette smokers followed over the past decade. We also evaluated associations between use of such products and cigarette quitting.

Methods: Participants were 6,110 adult smokers in the United States, who were interviewed as part of the International Tobacco Control Four Country Survey between 2002 and 2011. Respondents reported their concurrent use of other smoked tobacco products (including cigars, pipe tobacco, and cigarillos), smokeless tobacco products (including chewing tobacco, snus, and snuff), unconventional cigarettes (including Omni, Accord, and Eclipse), and electronic cigarettes. Prevalence and correlates of use and associations between use and cigarette quitting were assessed using regression analyses via generalized estimating equations.

Results: Most cigarette smokers did not use unconventional tobacco products, although use of any of these products started to rise at the end of the study period (2011). For each type of tobacco product evaluated, use was most prevalent among those aged 18-24 years. Smokers who did use unconventional tobacco products did not experience a clear cessation advantage.

Conclusions: During the past decade, relatively few cigarette smokers reported also using other tobacco products. Those that did use such products were no more likely to stop using conventional cigarettes compared with those who did not use such products.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Absolute prevalence of use (i.e., use rates among all smokers) of various types of unconventional tobacco products by cigarette smokers across the study period (with 95% confidence intervals). Note. For cigars, time frame for product use is within the past month; for chewing tobacco, snuff/snus, and unconventional cigarettes, time frame is within the past 12 months; and for e-cigarettes, time frame is ever tried.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adkison S. E., O’Connor R. J., Bansal-Travers M., Hyland A., Borland R., Yong H-H., Fong G. T. (2013). Electronic nicotine delivery systems. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 44, 207–215. 10.1016/j.amepre.2012.10.018 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bombard J. M., Pederson L. L., Nelson D. E., Malarcher A. M. (2007). Are smokers only using cigarettes? Exploring current polytobacco use among an adult population. Addictive Behaviors, 32, 2411–2419. 10.1016/j.addbeh.2007.04.001 - PubMed
    1. Bombard J. M., Rock V. J., Pederson L. L., Asman K. J. (2008). Monitoring polytobacco use among adolescents: Do cigarette smokers use other forms of tobacco? Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 10, 1581–1589. 10.1080/14622200802412887 - PubMed
    1. Borland R., Partos T. R., Cummings K. M. (2012). Systematic biases in cross-sectional community studies may underestimate the effectiveness of stop-smoking medications. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 14, 1483–1487. 10.1093/ntr/nts002 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cooper J., Borland R., Yong H. -H., McNeill A., Murray R. L., O’Connor R. J., Cummings K. M. (2010). To what extent do smokers make spontaneous quit attempts and what are the implications for smoking cessation maintenance? Findings from the International Tobacco Control Four country survey. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 12(Suppl. 1), S51–S57. 10.1093/ntr/ntq052 - PMC - PubMed

Publication types