Measurement of nicotine dependence among adolescent & young adult cigarillo users

2000年至2012年，雪茄、小雪茄和小雪茄（CCLC）的使用量增加了124%。青少年和年轻人是最普遍的用户。对于一些州和城市学区，包括俄亥俄州的克利夫兰，青少年使用CCLC的人数现在超过了香烟的使用。尽管年轻人使用CCLC的人数有所增加，但这些产品使用者对潜在尼古丁依赖（ND）的关注在很大程度上被忽视了。最近的证据表明，CCLC的使用者在吸烟时确实会吸入，并且与香烟相比，CCLC产品含有同样多的高度成瘾性化学尼古丁。因此，在CCLC用户中评估ND是告知这些产品在用户中造成伤害的程度的重要步骤，因此，应遵守与香烟相同的法规。烟草产品的使用模式以及尼古丁的物理接收速度和方法各不相同;因此，Fagerstrom及其同事建议需要采取特定产品的措施来更准确地评估使用者中的ND水平。据我们所知，尚未针对CCLC用户调整ND衡量标准，也没有为此目的创建新的衡量标准。这代表了我们旨在通过建立一种对青少年和年轻成人CCLC用户相关，有效和可靠的ND症状措施来解决的研究中的一个重大差距。使用一系列严格的方法，包括定性深入访谈，Rasch模型测量发展，调查和生物标志物数据，拟议的项目将有助于可靠和有效的测量ND CCLC用户。最终的CCLC ND措施将使用青少年危险行为调查（YRBS）对大样本青少年进行管理，以评估CCLC用户中ND症状的患病率。这项研究的结果将指导有关CCLC产品法规的适当实施和范围的决定，该法规与香烟在警告标签、有害成分报告以及已被证明影响青少年获得和消费烟草项目的其他方面的法规（包括包装和销售产品放置）方面平行。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Between 2000 and 2012 cigar, cigarillo, and little cigar (CCLC) use has increased 124%. Adolescents and young adults are the most prevalent users. For some states and urban school districts, including Cleveland, Ohio, the use of CCLC among adolescents now exceeds the use of cigarettes. Despite the increase in CCLC use among youth, attention to potential nicotine dependence (ND) among users of these products has been largely ignored. Recent evidence shows that users of CCLC do inhale when smoking and that, when compared to cigarettes, CCLC products contain as much if not more of the highly addictive chemical nicotine. Therefore, assessing ND among CCLC users is an important step to inform the extent to which these products are causing harm among users and thus, should be subjected to the same regulations as cigarettes. Patterns of use and the speed and method with which nicotine is physically received differ by tobacco product; because of this Fagerstrom and colleagues suggest that product-specific measures are needed to more precisely assess the level of ND among users. To our knowledge no measure of ND has been adapted for CCLC users nor has there been a new measure created for this purpose. This represents a significant gap in research we aim to address by establishing a measure of ND symptoms that is relevant, valid and reliable for adolescents and young adult CCLC users. Using an array of rigorous methods including qualitative in-depth interviews, Rasch modeling for measure development, and survey and biomarker data, the proposed project will contribute to the reliable and valid measurement of ND among CCLC users. The final CCLC ND measure will be administered to large samples of adolescents using the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to assess the prevalence of ND symptoms among CCLC users. The findings from this study will guide decisions regarding the appropriate implementation and scope of CCLC product regulation that is parallel to cigarettes with regard to warning labels, harmful constituent reporting, and regulation of other aspects that have been shown to influence youth access to and consumption of tobacco projects including packaging and product placement for sale.