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Studie belegt: Nikotinkonsum führt nicht zwangsläufig zur Abhängigkeit (06.01.2021)

Die Forscher Sarah E. Jackson, Jamie Brown und Martin J. Jarvis haben am 06. Januar 2021 eine Studie mit dem Namen Dependence on nicotine in US high school students in the context of changing patterns of tobacco product use veröffentlicht. Dabei handelt es sich um eine zweite Analyse der Daten der  National Youth Tobacco Surveys conducted annually, 2012‐2019. In dieser Studie wird klargestellt, dass ein Nikotinkonsum nicht zwangsläufig auf ein Suchtverhalten hinausläuft. Ferner wird dargelegt, daß das Suchtverhalten sogar stark rückläufig ist. 

Findings

Between 2012 and 2019 there was a marked decline in past‐30‐day cigarette smoking and a
surge in use of e‐cigarettes. Different products were associated with differing levels of nicotine dependence, with cigarettes characterised by highest dependence (strong craving 42%, wanting to use within 30 minutes 17% among exclusive users in 2019) and e‐cigarettes in otherwise tobacco‐naïve students by low dependence (16% and 9% in 2019). The overall 34% increase in population use of nicotine products between 2012 and 2019 (from 23.2% to 31.2%) was not accompanied by an equivalent increase in overall population burden of dependence (percentage reporting craving 10.9% [95% CI 9.8‐12.2%] in 2012 and 9.5% [7.5‐12.0%] in 2019; wanting to use within 30 minutes 4.7% [4.0‐5.5%] in 2012, 5.4% [4.0‐7.2%] in 2019).

Conclusions

Among US high school students, increases in the prevalence of nicotine product use from 2012 to 2019 do not appear to have been accompanied by a similar increase in the population burden of nicotine dependence. This may be at least partly attributable to a shift in the most common product of choice from cigarettes (on which users are most dependent) to e‐cigarettes (on which users are least dependent).