Comparison of the Substitution Between Different Tobacco/Nicotine Products as a Function of Tobacco-user Type

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University60 enrolled

Overview

This study will investigate the relative appeal (abuse liability) of novel tobacco products, how the appeal is modulated by relative price, user type, and how novel products may substitute for one another.

An important aim of tobacco control is to reduce demand for the most harmful products. Therefore, a priori knowledge of substitutability across novel and widely used tobacco products may forecast the impact of policies on product switching. This study will use a novel method, the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (ETM), to characterize the relative substitutability and appeal (abuse liability) of tobacco products (e.g., conventional cigarettes, nicotine vaping products \[NVP\], heated tobacco products \[HTP\], and nicotine pouch products \[NPP\]), and how the appeal is modulated by relative price and user type. Exclusive cigarette smokers and dual cigarette/NVP users, stratified by age, will complete multiple scenarios in the ETM.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Cigarette Smoking Nicotine Vaping

Interventions

All nicotine/ tobacco products at market priceOTHER

Nicotine/tobacco products available in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace at market price. Note that all participants will complete all the specified conditions.

Nicotine vaping products at 1/2 market priceOTHER

Availability of nicotine vaping products in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace at 1/2 market price. Other nicotine/tobacco products at market price. Note that all participants will complete all the specified conditions.

Nicotine vaping products at 2x market priceOTHER

Availability of nicotine vaping products in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace at 2x market price. Other nicotine/tobacco products at market price. Note that all participants will complete all the specified conditions.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 21 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Provide informed consent * Be at least 21 years of age or older * Provide a breath sample for measuring carbon monoxide (CO ≥ 8 ppm) * Stable tobacco use patterns for at least three months * Be willing to sample NVPs, HTPs, and NPPs * For exclusive cigarette smokers: smoke at least 10 cigarettes daily and do not use NVPs regularly (no more than 9 times in the last month) * For dual cigarette/NVP users: smoke at least 5 cigarettes daily and use NVPs for at least 3 times in a week (report use of closed nicotine salt system) Exclusion Criteria: * Have plans to move out of the area * Have a serious or unstable physical or mental health condition * Taking a tobacco cessation medication or medication that interferes with nicotine metabolism, motivation or reinforcement * Report concrete, immediate plans to alter/quit using their usual nicotine products at the beginning of the study

Locations (1)

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute

Roanoke, Virginia, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Nicotine/Tobacco Products Substitution

Participants will complete purchasing trials in an Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (ETM) with cigarettes increasing in price. Other product prices in the ETM will depend on the experimental condition. The degree to which other nicotine/tobacco products substitute for conventional cigarettes as a function of novel product (e.g. nicotine vaping products, heated tobacco products, nicotine pouch products) prices will be assessed. To obtain estimates of substitution of price-constant products in the different ETM conditions, the investigators will use ordinary least squares regression to model the relationship of the price-manipulated product to predict total quantity purchased of the price-constant product.

Time frame: 1 day

Cigarette Demand

Participants will complete purchasing trials in an Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (ETM) with cigarettes increasing in price. Other product prices in the ETM will depend on the experimental condition. The degree to which other nicotine/tobacco products substitute for conventional cigarettes as a function of novel product (e.g. nicotine vaping products, heated tobacco products, nicotine pouch products) prices will be assessed. To obtain dependent measures of demand, participants' purchasing of the price-manipulated commodity in the ETM task will be fit to a modified exponential equation to quantify the relationship between the price of each commodity and purchasing: Q=Q0\*10k(exp(-αQ0C)-1) where Q is purchasing of the commodity, C is the price, Q0 is the derived initial purchasing without cost constraints (demand intensity), k is the span of the function in logarithmic units, and α is the demand elasticity.

Time frame: 1 day

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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