An Experimental Test of the Relationship between Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Use and Alcohol Consumption.

Abstract

Increasing research shows that the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is associated with a higher rate and quantity of alcohol consumption. The present study used a 2-session, within-subjects design to experimentally examine the relationship between ENDS use and laboratory ad libitum alcohol consumption. A total of N=31 (mean age=28.71, SD=11.17; 45.2% women; 54.8% White/Caucasian) healthy adults from the community who use ENDS and endorsed liking beer completed the study, which included a beer consumption taste-test task that assessed the volume of beer consumed by the participants across 2 counterbalanced sessions: 1 in which concurrent ENDS use was allowed and 1 in which it was not. All analyses controlled for age, race, and gender. The effect of ENDS condition on the volume of beer consumed was not statistically significant, F(1, 30)=0.03, p=0.86). Results of linear mixed modeling showed that ENDS puffs were significantly related to alcohol sips (estimate=0.23, SE=0.07, p=0.002) across the ad libitum session. Overall, ENDS use did not increase alcohol consumption; however, the data suggest that ENDS puffs might act as a prime for beer sips or that these 2 behaviors are linked through habit. Future studies should more fully measure and compare global and event-level data on ENDS and alcohol use as they might show disparate patterns of relationships.