National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
BMJ Open. 2023 Apr 26;13(4):e066826. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-066826.
Electronic vaping devices are being used to consume nicotine and non-nicotine psychoactive drugs. We aimed to determine the pattern and prevalence of using vaping devices for nicotine and/or non-nicotine drug administration in the United Kingdom and how these differ by drug type and individual sociodemographic characteristics. We explored reasons for vaping onset and continuation.
An online cross-sectional survey PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of adults (aged ≥18 years) in the UK.
The primary outcome was prevalence of current use (within the last 30 days) of a vaping device to administer either nicotine or 18 types of non-nicotine drugs. We additionally evaluated reasons for onset and continuation of vaping. Sociodemographic characteristics were compared between the UK general population using census data and those vaping non-nicotine drugs.
We recruited 4027 participants of whom 1637 (40.7%) had ever used an electronic vaping device; 1495 (37.1%) had ever vaped nicotine and 593 (14.7%) had ever vaped a non-nicotine drug. Overall, 574 (14.3%) currently vaped nicotine and 74 (1.8%) currently vaped a non-nicotine drug. The most common currently vaped non-nicotine drug was cannabis (n=58, 1.4%). For nicotine, people's modal reasons to start and continue vaping was to quit smoking tobacco. For almost all other drugs, people's modal reason to start vaping was curiosity and to continue was enjoyment. Compared with the general population, the population who had ever vaped a non-nicotine drug were significantly younger, had more disabilities and fewer identified as white, female, heterosexual or religious.
A non-trivial number of people report current use and ever use of an electronic vaping device for non-nicotine drug administration. As vaping technology advances and drug consumption changes, understanding patterns of use and associated behaviours are likely to be increasingly important to both users and healthcare professionals.
电子蒸气装置正被用于吸食尼古丁和非尼古丁精神活性药物。本研究旨在确定在英国，人们使用蒸气装置吸食尼古丁和/或非尼古丁药物的模式和流行率，以及这些模式如何因药物类型和个体社会人口特征而有所不同。我们还探讨了开始和继续蒸气吸入的原因。
一项在线横断面调查。
英国的成年人（年龄≥18 岁）的便利样本。
主要结果是当前使用蒸气装置吸食尼古丁或 18 种非尼古丁药物的流行率。我们还评估了开始和继续蒸气吸入的原因。使用人口普查数据比较了英国普通人群和吸食非尼古丁药物人群的社会人口特征。
我们招募了 4027 名参与者，其中 1637 名（40.7%）曾使用过电子蒸气装置；1495 名（37.1%）曾吸食过尼古丁，593 名（14.7%）曾吸食过非尼古丁药物。总体而言，574 名（14.3%）目前吸食尼古丁，74 名（1.8%）目前吸食非尼古丁药物。目前最常吸食的非尼古丁药物是大麻（n=58，1.4%）。对于尼古丁，人们开始和继续吸食的主要原因是为了戒烟。对于几乎所有其他药物，人们开始吸食的主要原因是出于好奇，而继续吸食的主要原因是享受。与普通人群相比，曾吸食非尼古丁药物的人群明显更年轻，残疾更多，认定为白人、女性、异性恋或宗教信仰者的比例更低。
相当数量的人报告称，目前正在使用电子蒸气装置吸食非尼古丁药物，并且曾使用过该装置吸食非尼古丁药物。随着蒸气技术的进步和药物消费方式的改变，了解使用模式和相关行为可能对使用者和医疗保健专业人员都越来越重要。
