Smoking Behaviors
Conditions
Brief summary
Smokers believe that cigarettes with the natural or organic descriptors are less harmful than cigarettes without these descriptors, but we do not know if these beliefs are associated with how smokers interpret the experience of smoking a natural or organic cigarette, nor whether these beliefs are predictive of changes in smoking behavior or biological exposures. The primary goal of this study is to examine the relationship between exposure to natural or organic descriptors in cigarette advertising and smoking health risk expectancies, subjective effects, topography, and biological exposures. To accomplish this goal, we will enroll 250 adult daily cigarette smokers of Natural American Spirit (NAS) or non-NAS brands (125 in each group) in a within-subjects human laboratory study manipulating four expectancy conditions (own brand comparator, natural advertising, organic advertising, conventional advertising).
Interventions
OTHERCigarette trial
Participants were told that they were participating in market research for a new tobacco company called Capital Tobacco. They were told that they were going to try three different cigarettes for the new company -- a conventional cigarette, a natural cigarette, and an organic cigarette -- and provide the research team with their impressions about the advertising and the smoking experience for each product. We also told them were were studying whether smoking these different types of cigarettes changed their exposure to chemicals in cigarette smoke. The intervention consisted of showing participants conventional, natural, and organic versions of a mailer and reading them a brief description of the brand. In reality, participants were smoking the same cigarette 3 times.
Sponsors
University of Nevada, Reno
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
21 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Daily cigarette smoker of 5+ cigarettes/day for at least the past 6 months and consumed 100+ lifetime cigarettes * Smoke non-menthol, filtered cigarettes * Report daily use of any non-Natural American Spirit (NAS) cigarette brand for the last 30 days (for the non-NAS smoker group), or report daily use of NAS cigarettes for at least 30 days (for the NAS smoker group) * Provide exhaled CO level \>= 10 ppm at the Session 1 visit * Able to communicate fluently in English (speaking, writing, and reading) * Capable of providing written informed consent, which includes compliance with the requirements and restrictions listed in human participant protections
Exclusion criteria
* Current use of Nat's cigarettes as a preferred brand * Plan to quit smoking in the next 30 days and not currently undergoing smoking cessation treatment * Are pregnant, planning a pregnancy, and/or lactating * Have any impairment including, but not limited to, visual, physical, and/or neurological impairments preventing the completion of procedures included within this protocol * Have had a serious or unstable disease within the past 6 months (e.g. heart disease, cancer, schizophrenia). * Cannot have ever regularly smoked NAS (for the non-NAS group)
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Difference in perceived chemical content relative to conventional condition - natural | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | Survey measure |
| Difference in perceived chemical content relative to conventional condition - organic | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | Survey measure |
| Difference in perceived chemical aftertaste to conventional condition - natural | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | Survey measure |
| Difference in perceived chemical aftertaste to conventional condition - organic | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | Survey measure |
| Difference in total puff volume relative to conventional condition - natural | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | Total puff volume as measured by topography device |
| Difference in total puff volume relative to conventional condition - organic | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | Total puff volume as measured by topography device |
| Difference in salivary aldehyde concentration relative to conventional condition - natural | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | salivary aldehyde concentration measured in saliva |
| Difference in salivary aldehyde concentration relative to conventional condition - organic | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | salivary aldehyde concentration measured in saliva |
| Difference in perceived chemical content relative to own brand condition - natural | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | survey measure |
| Difference in perceived chemical content relative to own brand condition - organic | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | survey measure |
| Difference in perceived chemical aftertaste to own brand condition - natural | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | survey measure |
| Difference in perceived chemical aftertaste to own brand condition - organic | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | survey measure |
| Difference in total puff volume relative to own brand condition - natural | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | survey measure |
| Difference in total puff volume relative to own brand condition - organic | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | total puff volume as measured by a puff topography device |
| Difference in salivary aldehyde concentration relative to own brand condition - organic | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | salivary aldehyde concentration measured in saliva |
| Difference in salivary aldehyde concentration relative to own brand condition - natural | no sooner than 1 day after prior study visit and up to 3 months after first study visit. | salivary aldehyde concentration measured in saliva |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed