Vaping behaviour patterns and daily blood pressure and heart rate variation: a brief report.

BACKGROUND: Vaping, the use of an electronic device to deliver a drug-infused aerosol has become an increasingly popular way to consume nicotine since its introduction to the market in the early 2000s. Despite the differences in consumption patterns relative to combustible tobacco, the impact of ad libitum nicotine vaping on cardiovascular response has not been thoroughly studied. SUBJECT AND METHODS: This research was conducted on vapers (n = 17) and smokers (n = 14) who represent a subsample of a larger study that explored the relationship between nicotine use, activities of daily living and 24-hour cardiovascular response using Spacelabs ambulatory blood pressure monitors. These data were analysed via ANOVA models and t-tests using SPSS 25.0 for Macintosh. RESULTS: Vapers consumed nicotine significantly more frequently than did smokers, at 48.2% and 18.1% of every 15-minute waking measurement, respectively (p = 0.000). The act of nicotine consumption, rather than the mode of delivery, was significantly associated with increases in systolic, diastolic, mean arterial pressure, and heart rate readings. There was no difference in the mean amplitude of response to nicotine between vapers and smokers. CONCLUSIONS: This study's strong statistical findings, visually evident on ambulatory blood pressure monitor reports, demonstrated that ad libitum nicotine consumption has an acute, dose-dependent effect on cardiovascular response regardless of whether it is smoked or vaped. However, since vapers consumed nicotine more frequently, future studies should be conducted with larger sample sizes, and controlled for age and comorbidities to improve statistical strength. IMPLICATIONS: This pilot study reveals that, when ad lib consumption is documented and measured, vaping has unique and potentially harmful effects on blood pressure, pulse, and mean arterial pressure. Because nicotine is consumed for much longer stretches, vapers have fewer rest periods between nicotine doses.

The effects of smoking cessation and a programme intervention on birth and other perinatal outcomes among rural pregnant smokers.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perinatal outcomes of rural pregnant smokers enrolled in the Smoke Free Baby & Me trial. METHODS: Data on smoking status and other pre-natal variables were collected during pregnancy. Outcomes were retrieved from a review of hospital records of 161 singleton births (79 from the control group, 82 from the intervention group). RESULTS: The results show that, after adjusting for gender and gestational age, the more self-reported cigarettes at the first pre-natal visit, the less the infant birth weight (p = 0.033), the less maternal weight gain (p = 0.042) and the shorter the labour length (p = 0.041). Infants of women with positive urinary cotinine at the first pre-natal visit in the intervention group had higher 1 minute Apgar scores than those with negative cotinine (p = 0.022). Smokers also had a preponderance of male infants (64% vs 36%), while non-smokers had more females (59% vs 41%) (p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Smoking during pregnancy affects perinatal outcomes. Assuming a foetal origin of chronic disease morbidity, implementing smoking cessation during pregnancy would not only improve maternal and foetal health, but also might contribute to an improvement in the incidence of adult chronic disease morbidity.

The Development and Testing of a Perinatal Tobacco Attitudes and Behaviors Survey.

Background and Purpose: Accurate assessment of tobacco use in pregnant smokers is key to effective nursing intervention. There is a lack of valid and reliable tools easily integrated into prenatal care. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop and test a perinatal survey, guided by the Health Promotion Model (HPM). Methods: The survey was tested with 107 pregnant women via iPad. Urine cotinine assays and a process evaluation were conducted. Results: Reliability yielded a Cronbach's alpha of .873 for the ever-smoker sample and .835 for the total sample. Factors dovetailed with HPM constructs. Conclusions: Perinatal Tobacco Attitudes and Behaviors Survey (PTABS) exhibits high reliability and validity and is easily utilized. Updates need to include questions on all nicotine products and to be streamlined. With accurate identification of nicotine users nurses can provide targeted interventions early in pregnancy.

TABS: The Development and Testing of a Nicotine and Tobacco Use Research Tool.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Tobacco use is declining but the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has increased in young populations. The Interdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Program (ITURP) developed a survey assessing tobacco and ENDS use, and a tobacco-free campus policy. This project analyzes the reliability and validity of the Tobacco Attitude and Behavior Survey (TABS). METHODS: Content and face validity, factor analysis, Cronbach's Alpha, and a process evaluation were assessed. RESULTS: Factor analysis revealed four constructs. Cronbach's alpha was .70. Process evaluation revealed that students involvement in TABS allowed rapid assessment of changes in ENDS use, and to modify questions based on student feedback. CONCLUSION: Reliability and validity are adequate for a new tool.

Comparison of self-reported smoking and urinary cotinine levels in a rural pregnant population.

OBJECTIVES: (a) to assess the accuracy of self-reported smoking status in pregnant women from rural and small metropolitan statistical areas who stated they were smokers at the onset of pregnancy, (b) to compare the characteristics of these women who self-reported a nonsmoker status at the first prenatal visit with those who reported a smoker status, and (c) to determine the characteristics that predict self-reported smoking status and positive/negative urinary cotinine assays. SETTING: Seven private obstetric offices serving rural and small metropolitan statistical areas in upstate New York. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 94 pregnant women who stated they were smokers at the onset of their pregnancies. Their mean age was 23 years and mean level of education was 11.9 years; 95% were White, 65% were single, and 65% were Medicaid-funded. DESIGN: Descriptive correlational design. At the first prenatal visit, the sensitivity and specificity of smoking and nonsmoking status were determined by comparing self-reports of smoking status with urinary cotinine assays. Data were also analyzed for relationships among demographic variables and for predictors of smoking status and urinary cotinine. RESULTS: The discordance rate between self-reports of smoking status and urinary cotinine assays at the first prenatal visit for the total sample was 16.6%, significant at p < .001, chi-square = 27.80, df = 1. Based on biochemical assays of >200 ng/ml of cotinine indicating active smoking, 34.7% of women who denied smoking (specificity of 65.3%) and 10.4% of women who stated that they smoked (sensitivity of 89.5%) inaccurately reported their status (significant at p < .001). The number of cigarettes smoked per day was positively correlated with age, gravidity, parity, and number of smokers in the household. Gravidity and the number of smokers in the household were significant predictors of positive self-report of smoking status and of positive urinary cotinine assay. CONCLUSION: These results substantiate the unreliability of self-report on smoking status in the pregnant population and in women who are recent quitters. Such findings have implications for clinical practice, such as (a) changes are necessary in how the prenatal interview assesses past and present tobacco use, (b) pregnant smokers who are multigravidae and who live with other smokers need more tailored interventions, and (c) more research is needed on how self-report can be ethically and efficiently validated.

A pilot randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of a multistep herbal program for assisting smokers to quit.

This pilot randomized-controlled trial was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an over-the-counter multistep herbal smoking cessation regimen, SmokeRx, that employs four different herbal formulations taken at different times during the program. Twenty-two subjects were randomized to a placebo group and 20 to the SmokeRx program. The results show that the odds of reduced or validated cessation of smoking were not significantly different between the groups at any juncture over the 6 months of the trial but that there was a trend for higher odds in the SmokeRx group. Subjects were also more likely to drop out of the placebo group (p = .06), suggesting a possible positive effect of the SmokeRx regimen. Overall, early dropouts (at 2 week follow-up) appeared less motivated to quit smoking, as they were more likely to be younger, had smoked more than 5 years, had greater difficulty refraining from smoking in places where it is forbidden, had fewer previous quit attempts, did not intend to quit smoking in the next month, and exercised fewer hours per week. These results suggest that a larger trial of SmokeRx may be warranted and that more studies that assess the efficacy of herbal formulas are needed to provide valid data for non-nicotine smoking cessation options.

Ultrasonometric profiling of incidence and risk of osteoporosis in rural women.

BACKGROUND: It is estimated that over 200 million people worldwide have osteoporosis. The prevalence of osteoporosis is continuing to escalate with the increasingly aging population. The major complication of osteoporosis is an increase in fragility fractures leading to morbidity, mortality, and decreased quality of life. This investigation profiled the incidence and risk of osteoporosis in adult women from a rural setting using ultrasonic bone scanning technology. METHODS: Between 2001 and 2005, adult female subjects (n = 323) in the age range of 40-87 were drawn from an independent, community dwelling, convenience sample. Bone mineral density T-scores were evaluated using heel ultrasonometry. Demographic and risk factor data, Merck Osteoporosis Evaluation SCORE questionnaire data, and the Osteoporosis Risk Assessment questionnaire data were analyzed. RESULTS: Results of these scans indicate that 25% of the total population had a T-score < or = -1.0, implying a 1.5- to 2.0-fold increase in risk ratio of hip or spinal fracture for each standard deviational decrease. Age at menopause and weight had a positive correlation with T-scores. While the overall scores on the Merck SCORE questionnaire were inversely correlated to T-scores, no significant correlation was found between the Osteoporosis Risk Assessment questionnaire and T-score data. Additionally, women who had taken estrogen had significantly higher T-scores (p = 0.038) than those who had not. CONCLUSION: That approximately 25% of this sample has low bone mass or osteoporosis underscores the importance of early screening in order to develop preventative awareness and provide education on bone health management. This finding has particularly important ramifications, since the sample was rural women, who typically have limited access to diagnostic bone density procedures.

The effectiveness of a nurse-managed perinatal smoking cessation program implemented in a rural county.

The present study (a) examined the effectiveness of a nurse-managed smoking cessation program, that was totally integrated into routine perinatal care, on the cessation rates of pregnant smokers in a rural community, and (b) assessed the subject characteristics associated with smoking cessation success. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 194 pregnant women who stated that they were smokers at the onset of their pregnancies. The study compared the effects of usual care (n = 93) versus the Smoke Free Baby & Me program (n = 101), which included the American Cancer Society's Make Yours a Fresh Start Family program. Smoking status was measured by self-report and urinary cotinine at four points during pregnancy and postpartum. At the postpartum visit, more women in the experimental group reported that they were not smoking compared with those in the control group (37.3% vs. 16.7%), Pearson's chi2 (n = 87) = 4.37, p = .037, and they had higher validated (urinary cotinine <200 ng/ml) smoking cessation rates (n = 80, t = 2.449, p = .017) if they had quit smoking by the first prenatal visit. Smoking cessation was positively associated with level of education and negatively associated with gravidity, parity, the number of smokers in the household, and the number of cigarettes smoked per day at the first prenatal visit. Significant discordance was found between self-report and urinary cotinine assays at all prevalence points, regardless of group. In conclusion, this nurse-delivered program integrated into perinatal care influenced the smoking behaviors of "recent quitters" but had no effect on those who reported smoking at the first prenatal visit. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.