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. 2021 Apr 1:221:108590.
doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108590. Epub 2021 Feb 13.

Associations between vaping and Covid-19: Cross-sectional findings from the HEBECO study

Dimitra Kale  1 , Aleksandra Herbec  2 , Olga Perski  3 , Sarah E Jackson  3 , Jamie Brown  3 , Lion Shahab  3
Affiliations

Associations between vaping and Covid-19: Cross-sectional findings from the HEBECO study

Dimitra Kale et al. Drug Alcohol Depend. .

Abstract

Aims: To explore i) associations between vaping and self-reported diagnosed/suspected Covid-19; ii) changes in vaping since Covid-19 and factors associated with these changes; iii) whether Covid-19 motivated current or recent ex-vapers to quit.

Methods: Cross-sectional online survey of 2791 UK adults recruited 30/04/2020-14/06/2020. Participants self-reported data on sociodemographic characteristics, diagnosed/suspected Covid-19, vaping status, changes in vaping and motivation to quit vaping since Covid-19.

Results: There were no differences in diagnosed/suspected Covid-19 between never, current and ex-vapers. Bayes factors indicated there was sufficient evidence to rule out small negative (protective) associations between vaping status and diagnosed/suspected Covid-19. Among current vapers (n = 397), 9.7 % (95 % CI 6.8-12.6 %) self-reported vaping less than usual since Covid-19, 42.0 % (37.2-46.9 %) self-reported vaping more, and 48.3 % (43.4-53.2 %) self-reported no change. In adjusted analyses, vaping less was associated with being female (aOR = 3.40, 95 % CI 1.73-6.71), not living with children (aOR = 4.93, 1.15-21.08) and concurrent smoking (aOR = 8.77, 3.04-25.64), while vaping more was associated with being younger (aOR = 5.26, 1.37-20.0), living alone (aOR = 2.08, 1.14-3.85), and diagnosed/suspected Covid-19 (aOR = 4.72, 2.60-8.62). Of current vapers, 32.2 % (95 % CI 27.5-36.8 %) were motivated to quit vaping since Covid-19, partly motivated by Covid-19, and 21.0 %, (10.5-31.4 %) of recent ex-vapers quit vaping due to Covid-19.

Conclusions: Among UK adults, self-reported diagnosed/suspected Covid-19 was not associated with vaping status. Half of current vapers changed their vaping consumption since Covid-19, with the majority reporting an increase, and a minority was motivated to quit due to Covid-19.

Registration: The analysis plan was pre-registered, and it is available at https://osf.io/6j8z3/.

Keywords: Covid-19; UK; Vaping; e-cigarette.

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Conflict of interest statement

JB has received unrestricted research funding from Pfizer, who manufacture smoking cessation medications. LS has received honoraria for talks, an unrestricted research grant and travel expenses to attend meetings and workshops from Pfizer and has acted as paid reviewer for grant awarding bodies and as a paid consultant for health care companies. All authors declare no financial links with tobacco companies or e-cigarette manufacturers or their representatives.

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