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E-cigarette Harm Reduction Among PLWHA in South Africa

Evaluating Smoking Cessation and Harm Reduction Approaches Among People Living With HIV/AIDS in South Africa

Status
Completed
Phases
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06169813
Enrollment
106
Registered
2023-12-14
Start date
2025-04-15
Completion date
2026-03-19
Last updated
2026-06-09

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Tobacco Smoking

Brief summary

The purpose of this pilot randomized controlled trial study aims to address the unmet need for feasible and efficacious strategies for reducing combustible cigarette (CC) use among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in South Africa, which has the potential to significantly improve the health and long-term survival of PLWHA CC smokers. Using the proposed intervention, based on the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB), and a simultaneous embedded mixed methods approach, the investigators will evaluate a telehealth program targeting CC harm reduction, comparing E-cigarettes (EC) to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) that is enhanced by integrating ecological momentary intervention (EMI) texting. As such, this proposal will significantly build research capacity in South Africa to conduct telehealth tobacco treatment interventions using innovative EMI approaches enhancing participants' engagement, as well as state-of-the art evaluation approaches.

Interventions

OTHERNicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)

NRT (daily patches and lozenges). NRT strength will be according to the established dosing guidelines for tobacco treatment. NRT is the standard of care in tobacco treatment and helped reduce CPD in prior trials

EC with single-use pods. Nicotine - 48 mg/ ml (4.8% nicotine) concentration.

BEHAVIORALCounseling

Each participant will receive up to 5-motivational counseling sessions. The first session will also include orientation of EMA/EMI texting.

Sponsors

NYU Langone Health
Lead SponsorOTHER
Fogarty International Center of the National Institute of Health
CollaboratorNIH

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Adult PLWHA CC smokers; * Speaks Afrikaans, or Xhosa, or English; * reports daily CC smoking (≥ 5 CPD); * Owns any type of mobile phone; * interested in reducing CC smoking but not necessarily trying to quit; * Receives HIV/AIDS care in one of the eight selected clinics follow-up rates.

Exclusion criteria

* are pregnant or breastfeeding; * unable to provide consent; * used tobacco products other than CC in the past 2 weeks (e.g., EC, cigarillo); * currently engaged in an attempt to quit CC smoking; * current major depressive or manic episode, current psychotic disorder, past-year suicide attempt, or current suicidal ideation with plan or intent. plan or intent.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Recruitment RateUp to Month 6Defined as the total number of participants recruited divided by the maximum number of recruiting sites, then divided by the total number of months that the trial recruited for.
Percent of Patients who Enroll in CounselingUp to Month 6Defined as the percentage of participants who start the intervention counseling sessions.
Follow-Up Rate at 3 MonthsMonth 3Defined as the percent of participants who completed the 3-month follow-up.
Follow-Up Rate at 6 MonthsMonth 6Defined as the percent of participants who completed the 6-month follow-up.
Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8) ScoreWeek 88-item assessment of satisfaction with the intervention. The total score is the sum of responses and ranges from 8 to 32, with higher numbers indicating greater satisfaction.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Percentage of Participants who Achieve 7-Day Point Prevalence Abstinence.Month 3Abstinence will be verified by exhaled carbon monoxide and defined as no combustible cigarette use in the last 7 days.
Percentage of Participants who achieve 50% Reduction in Cigarettes Per Day (CPD), compared with BaselineUp to Month 6CPD will be self-reported.
Change in American Thoracic Society Questionnaire ScoreBaseline, Month 6Change in American Thoracic Questionnaire Score from Baseline to Week 12 8-item questionnaire assessing general thoracic pain. Items are rated on a Likert scale from 1 (never) to 5 (every day). The total score is the sum of responses and ranges from 8-40; higher scores indicate more severe impact of general thoracic pain.

Countries

South Africa

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOROmar El-Shahawy

NYU Langone Health

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jun 10, 2026