Dataset Information

Circumvention of COVID-19-related restrictions on tobacco sales by the e-cigarette industry in South Africa and comparative analyses of heated tobacco product vs combustible cigarette volume sales during 2018-2020.

ABSTRACT: As a public health measure against COVID-19, South Africa restricted the sale of "tobacco, e-cigarettes and related products" for 5 months, ending on August 17, 2020. We examined marketing activities related to novel tobacco products (e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products) during this restriction. Using web scraping, we accessed data for 2661 e-cigarette liquids marketed online by South African vendors in June 2020. We also analyzed heated tobacco product volume sales (kits) using retail scanner data from Nielsen Company. The 2661 e-cigarette liquids assessed online comprised cannabidiol liquids, 28.8%[767/2661], nicotine salts, 10.4%[276/2661], e-cigarette juice concentrates, 14.1%[376/2661], nicotine-free e-liquid, 4.0%[107/2661], and nicotine-containing e-liquid, 42.6%[1135/2661]. Cannabidiol liquids had the highest percentage of fruit (78.4%[601/767]) and tobacco flavors (9.4%[72/767]). During the restriction, many online e-cigarette vendors actively promoted cannabidiol liquid in lieu of regular e-liquid. Nielsen retail scanner data showed that volume of heated tobacco product sales in February 2020, preceding the restriction (7.76 million kits), were higher than in February 2019 (4.52 million kits). The restriction saw decreased sales of heated tobacco products; mean weekly heated tobacco product sales in the 6 weeks following the restriction (772,585 kits/week) were dramatically lower versus the 6 weeks preceding the restriction (2.26 million kits/week). Lifting the restriction saw a 131% spike in sales between the latter half of August 2020 (825,638 kits) and mid-September 2020 sales (1.90 million kits), even though total sales in September 2020 were half of what was observed in the preceding year (3.81 million units in September 2020, vs 6.33 million units, September 2019). The marketing of cannabidiol and other novel products by e-cigarette manufacturers and the tobacco industry may encourage youth use; close monitoring is required.

SUBMITTER: Agaku IT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8570646 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Exposure to nicotine in electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) is becoming increasingly common among adolescents who report never having smoked combustible tobacco.To evaluate whether e-cigarette use among 14-year-old adolescents who have never tried combustible tobacco is associated with risk of initiating use of 3 combustible tobacco products (ie, cigarettes, cigars, and hookah).Longitudinal repeated assessment of a school-based cohort at baseline (fall 2013, 9th grade, mean age?=?14.1 years) and at a 6-month follow-up (spring 2014, 9th grade) and a 12-month follow-up (fall 2014, 10th grade). Ten public high schools in Los Angeles, California, were recruited through convenience sampling. Participants were students who reported never using combustible tobacco at baseline and completed follow-up assessments at 6 or 12 months (N?=?2530). At each time point, students completed self-report surveys during in-classroom data collections.Student self-report of whether he or she ever used e-cigarettes (yes or no) at baseline.Six- and 12-month follow-up reports on use of any of the following tobacco products within the prior 6 months: (1) any combustible tobacco product (yes or no); (2) combustible cigarettes (yes or no), (3) cigars (yes or no); (4) hookah (yes or no); and (5) number of combustible tobacco products (range: 0-3).Past 6-month use of any combustible tobacco product was more frequent in baseline e-cigarette ever users (n?=?222) than never users (n?=?2308) at the 6-month follow-up (30.7% vs 8.1%, respectively; difference between groups in prevalence rates, 22.7% [95% CI, 16.4%-28.9%]) and at the 12-month follow-up (25.2% vs 9.3%, respectively; difference between groups, 15.9% [95% CI, 10.0%-21.8%]). Baseline e-cigarette use was associated with greater likelihood of use of any combustible tobacco product averaged across the 2 follow-up periods in the unadjusted analyses (odds ratio [OR], 4.27 [95% CI, 3.19-5.71]) and in the analyses adjusted for sociodemographic, environmental, and intrapersonal risk factors for smoking (OR, 2.73 [95% CI, 2.00-3.73]). Product-specific analyses showed that baseline e-cigarette use was positively associated with combustible cigarette (OR, 2.65 [95% CI, 1.73-4.05]), cigar (OR, 4.85 [95% CI, 3.38-6.96]), and hookah (OR, 3.25 [95% CI, 2.29-4.62]) use and with the number of different combustible products used (OR, 4.26 [95% CI, 3.16-5.74]) averaged across the 2 follow-up periods.Among high school students in Los Angeles, those who had ever used e-cigarettes at baseline compared with nonusers were more likely to report initiation of combustible tobacco use over the next year. Further research is needed to understand whether this association may be causal.

Project description:ObjectivesMore than 250 US localities restrict sales of flavoured tobacco products (FTPs), but comprehensiveness varies, and many include retailer-based exemptions. The purpose of this study is to examine resulting changes in the US retail environment for FTPs if there was a hypothetical national tobacco control policy that would prohibit FTP sales in all retailers except (1) tobacco specialty stores or (2) tobacco specialty stores and alcohol outlets.Design and settingA cross-sectional analysis of the FTP retail environment in every US Census tract (n=74 133). FTP retailers (n=3 10 090) were enumerated using nine unique codes from a national business directory (n=296 716) and a national vape shop directory (n=13 374).Outcome measuresWe assessed FTP availability using static-bandwidth and adaptive-bandwidth kernel density estimation. We then calculated the proportion of FTP stores remaining and the mean density of FTP retailers under each policy scenario for the overall population, as well as across populations vulnerable to FTP use.ResultsExempting tobacco specialty stores alone would leave 25 276 (8.2%) FTP retailers nationwide, while exempting both tobacco specialty stores and alcohol outlets would leave 54 091 (17.4%) retailers. On average, the per cent remaining FTP availability per 100 000 total population was 7.1% for a tobacco specialty store exemption and 18.1% for a tobacco specialty store and alcohol outlet exemption. Overall, density estimate trends for remaining FTP availability among racial/ethnic populations averaged across Census tracts mirrored total population density. However, estimates varied when stratified by metropolitan status. Compared with the national average, FTP availability would remain 47%-49% higher for all racial/ethnic groups in large metropolitan areas.ConclusionsRetailer-based exemptions allow greater FTP availability compared with comprehensive policies which would reduce FTP availability to zero. Strong public policies have the greatest potential impact on reducing FTP availability, particularly among urban, and racial/ethnic minority populations.

Dataset Information

Circumvention of COVID-19-related restrictions on tobacco sales by the e-cigarette industry in South Africa and comparative analyses of heated tobacco product vs combustible cigarette volume sales during 2018-2020.

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