Longitudinal associations between e-cigarette use and onset of multiple modes of cannabis use among US adolescents

Yu Wang; Zongshuan Duan; Shannon R Self-Brown; Scott R Weaver; Claire A Spears; Pinpin Zheng; Michael P Eriksen; Jidong Huang

doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107316

Longitudinal associations between e-cigarette use and onset of multiple modes of cannabis use among US adolescents

Addict Behav. 2022 Aug:131:107316. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107316. Epub 2022 Mar 25.

Authors

Yu Wang¹, Zongshuan Duan², Shannon R Self-Brown³, Scott R Weaver⁴, Claire A Spears⁵, Pinpin Zheng⁶, Michael P Eriksen⁷, Jidong Huang⁸

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: ywang145@student.gsu.edu.
² Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. Electronic address: zduan3@gwu.edu.
³ School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: sselfbrown@gsu.edu.
⁴ School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: srweaver@gsu.edu.
⁵ School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: cspears@gsu.edu.
⁶ School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: zpinpin@shmu.edu.cn.
⁷ School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: meriksen@gsu.edu.
⁸ School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: jhuang17@gsu.edu.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the prospective associations between e-cigarette use and subsequent onset of various modes of cannabis use during a 12-month follow-up period among US adolescents.

Methods: Data were from the Wave 4 (2017, baseline) and Wave 4.5 (12-month follow-up) surveys of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal cohort study. Study population was cannabis-naïve US adolescents (12-16 years) at baseline who reported cannabis use status at follow-up (N = 9,692). Outcomes were modality-specific past-12-month cannabis use (vaping, blunting, smoking with hookah) and any cannabis use (past-12-month and past-30-day) at follow-up. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to estimate the weighted association between baseline past-30-day e-cigarette use and each outcome.

Results: Baseline e-cigarette use was significantly associated with onset of cannabis vaping (aOR = 4.00, 95% CI = 2.25-7.10), blunting (aOR = 5.30, 95% CI = 2.82-9.94), any cannabis use (aOR = 3.94, 95% CI = 2.35-6.62), and past-30-day cannabis use (aOR = 4.47, 95%CI = 2.64-7.58) at follow-up. Non-Hispanic blacks were more likely to report past-12-month blunting (aOR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.07-2.24) and smoking cannabis with hookah (aOR = 3.13, 95% CI = 1.14-8.63) compared with non-Hispanic whites. Other tobacco use, alcohol use, perceiving e-cigarette use as having little or some harm, older age, high severity of externalizing mental health problems, and living in states legalized adult recreational cannabis use were significantly associated with future onset of cannabis vaping, blunting, and any cannabis use.

Conclusions: The association of e-cigarette use with cannabis vaping was not stronger than its association with other modes of cannabis use. Future studies are needed to explain the mechanisms linking e-cigarettes and cannabis use.

Keywords: Adolescents; Blunting; Cannabis; Cannabis use modality; Cannabis vaping; E-cigarette.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Analgesics
Cannabis*
Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems*
Hallucinogens*
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Tobacco Products*
Vaping* / epidemiology
Vaping* / psychology

Substances

Analgesics
Hallucinogens

Grants and funding

R01 CA194681/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States