Update: Interim Guidance for Health Care Providers Evaluating and Caring for Patients with Suspected E-cigarette, or Vaping, Product Use Associated Lung Injury - United States, October 2019.

CDC, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), state and local health departments, and public health and clinical partners are investigating a multistate outbreak of lung injury associated with the use of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), or vaping, products. In late August, CDC released recommendations for health care providers regarding e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI) based on limited data from the first reported cases (1,2). This report summarizes national surveillance data describing clinical features of more recently reported cases and interim recommendations based on these data for U.S. health care providers caring for patients with suspected or known EVALI. It provides interim guidance for 1) initial clinical evaluation; 2) suggested criteria for hospital admission and treatment; 3) patient follow-up; 4) special considerations for groups at high risk; and 5) clinical and public health recommendations. Health care providers evaluating patients suspected to have EVALI should ask about the use of e-cigarette, or vaping, products in a nonjudgmental and thorough manner. Patients suspected to have EVALI should have a chest radiograph (CXR), and hospital admission is recommended for patients who have decreased blood oxygen (O2) saturation (<95%) on room air or who are in respiratory distress. Health care providers should consider empiric use of a combination of antibiotics, antivirals, or steroids based upon clinical context. Evidence-based tobacco product cessation strategies, including behavioral counseling, are recommended to help patients discontinue use of e-cigarette, or vaping, products. To reduce the risk of recurrence, patients who have been treated for EVALI should not use e-cigarette, or vaping, products. CDC recommends that persons should not use e-cigarette, or vaping, products that contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). At present, CDC recommends persons consider refraining from using e-cigarette, or vaping, products that contain nicotine. Irrespective of the ongoing investigation, e-cigarette, or vaping, products should never be used by youths, young adults, or women who are pregnant. Persons who do not currently use tobacco products should not start using e-cigarette, or vaping, products.

Trends in US newspaper and television coverage of tobacco.

PURPOSE: The news media plays an important role in agenda setting and framing of stories about tobacco control. The purpose of this study was to examine newspaper, newswire and television coverage of tobacco issues in the USA over a 7-year period. METHODS: Analyses of 2004-2010 news media surveillance system data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health, based on content analysis and quantitative methods. Information on extent of news coverage, and types of tobacco-related themes, were examined from articles in 10 newspapers and 2 major newswires, as well as transcripts from 6 national television networks. RESULTS: The overall extent of newspaper, newswire and television stories about tobacco, and level of coverage by specific media outlets, varied over time, especially for newspapers. Nevertheless, there was an average of 3 newspaper stories, 4 newswire stories, and 1 television tobacco-related story each day. Television stories were more likely to contain cessation/addiction or health effects/statistics themes and less likely to contain secondhand smoke or policy/regulation themes than newspaper/newswire stories. There was more variation in the choice of tobacco theme among individual newspapers/newswires than television media outlets. CONCLUSIONS: News coverage of tobacco in the USA was relatively constant from 2004 to 2010. Audiences were more likely to be exposed to different tobacco themes in newspapers/newswires than on television. Tracking information about tobacco news stories can be used by advocates, programs and others for planning and evaluation, and by researchers for hypothesis generation.

News media outreach and newspaper coverage of tobacco control.

INTRODUCTION: Little is known about the impact of media outreach on news media coverage of tobacco control. METHODS: Media outreach data were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health (CDC/OSH) from 2003 to 2006; one to six types of outreach activities for 50 scientific publications were performed during 35 discrete time periods. The authors analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively 205 newspaper articles generated based on the CDC/OSH scientific publications. RESULTS: Media coverage of specific CDC/OSH-related tobacco themes was highest for disparities (100%) and tobacco statistics (98%). More outreach activities increased the likelihood of moderate pickup of the number of themes in newspaper articles (odds ratio = 2.0, 95% confidence interval = 1.5-2.8), but there appeared to be a ceiling effect. Certain types of outreach were more strongly associated with front page and headline coverage. CONCLUSIONS: The extent and type of outreach were associated with increased newspaper coverage but the relationship is not necessarily straightforward. Additional research is needed to better understand relationships between scientific findings, outreach, and news media coverage of tobacco.

A national surveillance system for tracking tobacco news stories.

BACKGROUND: Two of the major goals of tobacco prevention and control activities are to change social norms and influence policy. The news media can play an important role for achieving both goals. METHODS: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health created a surveillance system to track tobacco stories in the news media beginning in 2004. The system was developed based on reviewing lessons from previous news media tracking efforts, including defining the purpose of the system, using a parsimonious approach to sample media outlets, and attending to data-quality issues. Tobacco news stories were systematically identified and coded from ten newspapers, four news wire services, and seven national television networks. RESULTS: Findings indicated that from January 2004 through June 2005, tobacco-related stories were in selected major newspapers virtually every day. More than 70% of all newspaper stories contained one of only three main story themes: policy or regulation (31.0%), legal issues (23.8%), or health effects or statistics (18.1%). Television news stories on tobacco were much less common, but increased substantially during the first 6 months of 2005 compared to 2004. Health effects/statistics (50.5%) were the dominant theme for television, with policy/regulation a distant second (19.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco-related media coverage can be systematically tracked and characterized. These findings may have value to public health researchers and policymakers who wish to evaluate efforts to curb tobacco-related disease.