Smart tech used in varsity quit smoking study
UNIVERSITY of Otagoled research shows smart technology can shed new light on the challenges faced by smokers trying to quit by using ecigarettes.
The research trialled the use of ‘‘smart’’ technology, including smart ecigarettes and smartphones, among 11 Dunedin smokers last year.
It may be the first study internationally to use real time smart electronic data in this way to study vaping during an eightweek quit smoking attempt.
The study explored smokingtovaping transitions and suggested vaping was a complicated process, and some vapers might need extra ‘‘cessation support’’ to become smoke free.
Research fellow MeiLing Blank, of the Otago marketing department, said it was ‘‘very satisfying’’ to test the smart technology, to see if mounting a much bigger vaping study in future was feasible.
The results of the small study provided some ‘‘preliminary insights’’ into how easy or difficult the transition to vaping might be.
The Otago researchers worked with colleagues at the University of California San Francisco and Johns Hopkins University, and the results are published today in the international journal Nicotine & Tobacco
Research.
Ms Blank is also part of Aspire 2025, a multidepartment Otago research theme supporting the goal of smokefree New Zealand by 2025
Vaping remained a ‘‘huge issue’’ in public health circles and ecigarettes were a ‘‘very controversial technology’’, she said.
Some people suggested vaping could ‘‘end the smoking epidemic’’, but others worried ecigarettes might stop some smokers quitting and even attract some young people to cigarettes.
Two research study participants reported quitting cigarettes completely during the trial, several others substantially cut their smoking, while others continued smoking.
Overall, researchers observed three potential vaping and smoking patterns: immediate and dramatic reduction in smoking coupled with relatively intensive ecigarette use resulting in smoking cessation; gradual smoking reduction and vaping intensification leading to daily dual use; and vaping experimentation before returning to exclusive smoking.
Another researcher, Prof Janet Hoek, codirector of Aspire 2025, said until recently it was ‘‘impossible to collect detailed information’’ on vaping behaviour. Virtually all such studies relied on participants telling researchers about their vaping.
Smart ecigarettes recorded participants’ realtime vaping behaviours, enabling researchers to form ‘‘very detailed pictures of vaping patterns’’, Prof Hoek said.