scholarly journals Examining Age as a Potential Moderator of Response to Reduced Nicotine Content Cigarettes in Vulnerable Populations

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S49-S55
Author(s):  
Danielle R Davis ◽  
Maria A Parker ◽  
Andrea C Villanti ◽  
Joanna M Streck ◽  
Jeff S Priest ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Young adults (aged 18–24 years) have a higher smoking prevalence than younger and older age groups and young adulthood is an important developmental period during which long-term behavior patterns like cigarette smoking are established. The aim of the current study was to examine how young adult smokers with additional vulnerabilities to smoking respond to reduced nicotine content cigarettes. Methods This is a secondary analysis of a double-blind, within-subject experiment conducted with 169 cigarette smokers recruited from populations with comorbid psychiatric conditions or socioeconomic disadvantage assessing acute effects of research cigarettes varying in nicotine content (0.4, 2.4, 5.2, 15.8 mg/g). Participants were dichotomized by chronological age (18–24 vs. ≥25 years). Across 14 laboratory sessions effects of nicotine content were examined on measures of relative reinforcing efficacy (Cigarette Purchase Task [CPT] and Concurrent Choice testing), subjective effects, craving/withdrawal, and smoking topography. Repeated measures analysis of variances were used to examine potential moderating effects of age. Results Young adults exhibited lower demand for reduced nicotine content cigarettes than older adults across three of five CPT indices (ps < .05). No differences by age were observed on other measures of reinforcing efficacy, subjective effects, craving/withdrawal, or smoking topography where effects generally decreased as an orderly function of decreasing nicotine content (ps <.05). Conclusion Overall, these findings suggest that reducing the nicotine content of cigarettes would decrease the addiction potential of cigarette smoking in young adult smokers as much or perhaps more than older adult smokers from populations at increased vulnerability to smoking, addiction, and smoking-related health consequences. Implications Reducing the nicotine content in cigarettes to lower addiction potential of smoking has been proposed as a means to improve overall population health. It is imperative to examine how young adults may respond to a nicotine reduction policy. We saw minimal evidence that age moderates acute response and where there was evidence it was in the direction of reduced nicotine content cigarettes having less addictive potential among young versus older adults (eg, steeper decreases in demand for very low nicotine content cigarettes among young versus older adults). Overall, a nicotine reduction policy has the potential to reduce smoking across age groups.

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 638-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Lea Watkins ◽  
Johannes Thrul ◽  
Wendy Max ◽  
Pamela M Ling

Abstract Introduction Young adults have high smoking rates and low utilization of evidence-based smoking cessation strategies. We investigated smoking cessation intentions, strategy use, and socioeconomic predictors of strategy use among young adult smokers (age 18–24) and compared patterns with those of older adults (age 25–64). Methods We used a population-based sample from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study of young adult (n = 1,881) and older adult (n = 6,366) established smokers of conventional cigarettes at Wave 1 (2013–2014), who were surveyed at Wave 2 (2014–2015). Simple regression analysis compared intentions to quit between age groups. Among Wave 1 smokers who reported a Wave 2 quit attempt (young adults [YA] n = 748; older adults [OA] n = 2,068), bivariate and multinomial logistic regression estimated differences in use of behavioral support, pharmacotherapy, product substitution, and unassisted quit attempts. Interaction terms estimated age-group differences in relationships between predictors and cessation strategy use. Results Young adults planned to quit on a longer time frame, expressed lower interest in quitting, and were more confident they would be successful, compared with older adults. Young adults were significantly less likely to use pharmacotherapy (adjusted odds ratio: 0.15; confidence interval: 0.09, 0.24; reference: quitting unassisted). Both groups reported using product substitution (YA: 31.6%; OA: 28.5%), primarily with e-cigarettes, more than any evidence-based cessation strategy. Socioeconomic predictors of cessation strategy use did not differ between age groups. Conclusions More research on why young adult smokers underutilize evidence-based cessation support is needed, as are innovative efforts to increase intentions to quit and utilization of cessation assistance. Implications Young adulthood is a key transition time for tobacco use, and early cessation substantially reduces the risk of morbidity and mortality from smoking. In the context of high e-cigarette and polytobacco use, this study finds young adults have significantly less intention to quit than older adults and are less likely to use evidence-based cessation strategies to help quit. Innovative methods are needed to increase young adult intentions to quit and use of evidence-based cessation assistance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 397-397
Author(s):  
Hee Yun Lee ◽  
Eun Young Choi ◽  
Jieun Song ◽  
Jamie Gajos ◽  
Yan Luo

Abstract Opioid overdose risk is particularly high in immigrant communities partly due to limited English proficiency (Guarino et al., 2015). Previous studies reported that social determinants of health (SDH) have been associated with risk for opioid overdose (Dasgupta et al., 2018). The current study examines the association between SDH and literacy of opioid overdose risk among the immigrant population living in a rural area. Specifically, we examine the association in various age groups including young adults (aged 20 to 34), middle-aged (aged 35 to 49), and older adults (ages 50 to 75). Data were drawn from a sample of Korean American immigrants residing in rural Alabama (N=225). The participants administered the Brief Opioid Knowledge (BOOK) Questionnaire (Dunn et al., 2016). Multiple regression analyses were conducted for three age groups to identify predictors of opioid literacy. Overall, older adults had lower levels of opioid literacy relative to their younger counterparts. Among young adults, low English proficiency, more chronic conditions, and greater depressive symptoms were significant predictors of limited opioid literacy. For the middle-aged adults, lower levels of health literacy and more pain symptoms were associated with limited opioid literacy. Among older adults, women, those with higher English proficiency, and lower health literacy had lower levels of opioid literacy. The findings demonstrated a greater vulnerability of older immigrants to limited opioid literacy. Different predictors based on SDH of limited opioid literacy across age groups have implications for tailored health promotion strategies to reduce opioid overdose risk.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 590
Author(s):  
Raeghan L. Mueller ◽  
Jarrod M. Ellingson ◽  
L. Cinnamon Bidwell ◽  
Angela D. Bryan ◽  
Kent E. Hutchison

In recent years of expanding legalization, older adults have reported the largest increase in cannabis use of any age group. While its use has been studied extensively in young adults, little is known about the effects of THC in older adults and whether the risks of cannabis might be different, particularly concerning intoxication and cognition. The current study investigated whether age is associated with the deleterious effects of THC on cognitive performance and other behavioral measures before and after ad libitum self-administration of three different types of cannabis flower (THC dominant, THC + CBD, and CBD dominant). Age groups consisted of young adults (ages 21–25) and older adults (ages 55–70). Controlling for pre-use scores on all measures, the THC dominant chemovar produced a greater deleterious effect in younger adults compared with older adults in tests of learning and processing speed, whereas there were no differences between old and young in the effects of the other chemovars. In addition, the young group reported greater cannabis craving than the older group after using the THC chemovar. Consistent with some reports in the preclinical literature, the findings suggest that older adults may be less sensitive to the effects of THC on cognitive and affective measures.


2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 690-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chesney E. Craig ◽  
Michail Doumas

We investigated whether postural aftereffects witnessed during transitions from a moving to a stable support are accompanied by a delayed perception of platform stabilization in older adults, in two experiments. In experiment 1, postural sway and muscle cocontraction were assessed in 11 healthy young, 11 healthy older, and 11 fall-prone older adults during blindfolded stance on a fixed platform, followed by a sway-referenced platform and then by a fixed platform again. The sway-referenced platform was more compliant for young adults, to induce similar levels of postural sway in both age groups. Participants were asked to press a button whenever they perceived that the platform had stopped moving. Both older groups showed significantly larger and longer postural sway aftereffects during platform stabilization compared with young adults, which were pronounced in fall-prone older adults. In both older groups elevated muscle cocontraction aftereffect was also witnessed. Importantly, these aftereffects were accompanied by an illusory perception of prolonged platform movement. After this, experiment 2 examined whether this illusory perception was a robust age effect or an experimental confound due to greater surface compliance in young adults, which could create a larger perceptual discrepancy between moving and stable conditions. Despite exposure to the same surface compliance levels during sway-reference, the perceptual illusion was maintained in experiment 2 in a new group of 14 healthy older adults compared with 11 young adults. In both studies, older adults took five times longer than young adults to perceive platform stabilization. This supports that sensory reweighting is inefficient in older adults. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first paper to show that postural sway aftereffects witnessed in older adults after platform stabilization may be due to a perceptual illusion of platform movement. Surprisingly, in both experiments presented it took older adults five times longer than young adults to perceive platform stabilization. This supports a hypothesis of less efficient sensory reintegration in this age group, which may delay the formation of an accurate postural percept.


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshinori Yamagiwa ◽  
Yoshihiro Takei ◽  
Haruko Koizumi ◽  
Shingo Nemoto ◽  
Masaaki Kurata ◽  
...  

Cationic amphiphilic drugs (CADs) can induce phospholipidosis (PLD) in organs/tissues. Several ophthalmic pharmaceuticals containing CADs are marketed and used in children. To investigate the effect of PLD on the developing cornea, chloroquine and amiodarone, which are representative CADs, were applied topically to the eyes of juvenile rabbits, and the effects in juvenile rabbits were compared with those in young adult rabbits. Diffuse corneal cloudiness was observed in chloroquine- and amiodarone-treated eyes. Histopathologically, vacuolation was observed in the corneal epithelium and keratocytes. On ultrastructural examination, these vacuoles contained multilamellar inclusion bodies, which are a characteristic of PLD. The size of the vacuoles in the corneal epithelium was reduced in juveniles compared with young adults. Cytoplasmic lamellar bodies and exocytosis in the corneal endothelium were observed in young adult rabbits but not in juvenile rabbits. This study revealed that topical application of chloroquine or amiodarone induces corneal PLD in juvenile and young adult rabbits. Corneal endothelial changes occurred only in young adult rabbits, but ophthalmological changes were similar between juveniles and young adults. The results of the study suggest that the effects of corneal PLD were similar among age groups based on risk assessment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Amico ◽  
Sabine Schaefer

Studies examining the effect of embodied cognition have shown that linking one’s body movements to a cognitive task can enhance performance. The current study investigated whether concurrent walking while encoding or recalling spatial information improves working memory performance, and whether 10-year-old children, young adults, or older adults (Mage = 72 years) are affected differently by embodiment. The goal of the Spatial Memory Task was to encode and recall sequences of increasing length by reproducing positions of target fields in the correct order. The nine targets were positioned in a random configuration on a large square carpet (2.5 m × 2.5 m). During encoding and recall, participants either did not move, or they walked into the target fields. In a within-subjects design, all possible combinations of encoding and recall conditions were tested in counterbalanced order. Contrary to our predictions, moving particularly impaired encoding, but also recall. These negative effects were present in all age groups, but older adults’ memory was hampered even more strongly by walking during encoding and recall. Our results indicate that embodiment may not help people to memorize spatial information, but can create a dual-task situation instead.


2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 23-32
Author(s):  
Michael Phan ◽  
Courtney Wong ◽  
Daniel Tomaszewski ◽  
Zeev Kain ◽  
Brooke Jenkins ◽  
...  

Background Receipt of opioid prescriptions in pediatric and young adult patients may be a risk factor for future opioid misuse. Data from prescription drug monitoring programs provide insight on outpatient opioid use. In our study, we analyzed the opioid dispensing rates for pediatrics and young adults in California. Methods A secondary analysis was performed from 2015-2019 using Controlled Utilization Review and Evaluation System data. This database provides dispensing data of controlled substances in California. Patients younger than 25 years who were prescribed opiates were analyzed by county. We further divided them into two groups (children: ≤14 years; adolescents and young adult: 15-24 years). Descriptive statistics and heat maps were used to illustrate the trends in opioid usage among different age groups. Results The overall percentages for the number of opioids being dispensed to patients aged <25 years have decreased over the past four years. In 2015, 6 out of 58 counties in California were considered “high-rate” with >2.9% of opioids dispensed to patients younger than 25 years old; in 2019, this number reduced to zero. Patients 25 and older received a higher proportion of opioids compared to younger populations; in 2019, 35.91% of opioids were dispensed to patients 45-64, and 8.92% to patients younger than 25. Conclusion Pediatric opioid prescriptions have declined over the recent years. However, a high degree of variability of prescription rates between demographic counties was noted. More studies are warranted in order to understand this discrepancy in opioid prescribing among pediatric and young adult patients.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin Bowman ◽  
Takako Iwashita ◽  
Dagmar Zeithamova

The need to learn new concepts and categories persists through the lifespan, yet little is known about how aging affects concept learning and generalization. Here, we trained young and older adults to classify typical and boundary category members and then tested category generalization to new stimuli. During training, older adults had increased difficulty compared to young adults learning category labels for boundary items, but not typical items. At test, categorization performance that included new items at all levels of typicality was comparable across age groups, but formal categorization models indicated that older adults relied to a greater degree on generalized (prototype) category representations than young adults. These findings align with the proposal that older adults are able to form category representations based on central tendency even when they have difficulty learning and remembering individual category members. More broadly, the results contribute to our understanding of multiple categorization strategies and the limited strategy flexibility in older adults. They also highlight how reliance on


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S305-S305
Author(s):  
Jenessa C Steele ◽  
Amanda Chappell ◽  
Rachel Scott

Abstract Emotional responses to disrespect tend to be negative (Hawkins, 2015). Little is known about how responses to disrespect vary across age groups and relationship closeness. It is unknown whether older adults have more emotional protection against disrespectful experiences, or are more deeply affected due to relationship closeness. Overall, we might expect that older adults react less negatively to disrespect compared to young adults, as they are more-skilled emotion regulators (Carstensen, 1991; English & Carstensen, 2014). We aimed to explore if, and under which circumstances, older adults are more or less sensitive to disrespect compared to younger adults. Three hundred participants responded to six scenarios illustrating ignored disrespect. Participants were randomly assigned to close or distant relationship disrespect scenarios. Relationship closeness was first determined by requesting participants identify a person in each layer of Kahn and Antonucci’s (1980) Social Convoy Model. Identified names were then automatically inserted into the six scenarios. Emotional responses and sensitivity to each scenario were recorded. Participants in the close condition reported more sensitivity to disrespect and negative emotions than participants in the distant condition. Females reported more sensitivity to disrespect and negative emotions than males. We did not find overwhelming support for age differences in responses to disrespect. A single scenario indicated younger participants more sensitive to disrespect than older participants. Findings suggest it is more hurtful to be disrespected by someone close to you and females may be more sensitive to disrespect than males. More research investigating the role of age in disrespect is needed.


Author(s):  
Hyun Gu Kang ◽  
Jonathan B. Dingwell

Older adults commonly walk slower, which many believe helps improve their walking stability. However, they remain at increased risk of falls. We investigated how differences in age and walking speed independently affect dynamic stability during walking, and how age-related changes in leg strength and ROM affected this relationship. Eighteen active healthy older and 17 younger adults walked on a treadmill for 5 minutes each at each of 5 speeds (80–120% of preferred). Local divergence exponents and maximum Floquet multipliers (FM) were calculated to quantify each subject’s responses to small inherent perturbations during walking. These older adults exhibited the same preferred walking speeds as the younger subjects (p = 0.860). However, these older adults still exhibited greater local divergence exponents (p&lt;0.0001) and higher maximum FM (p&lt;0.007) than young adults at all walking speeds. These older adults remained more unstable (p&lt;0.04) even after adjusting for declines in both strength and ROM. In both age groups, local divergence exponents decreased at slower speeds and increased at faster speeds (p&lt;0.0001). Maximum FM showed similar changes with speed (p&lt;0.02). The older adults in this study were healthy enough to walk at normal speeds. However, these adults were still more unstable than the young adults, independent of walking speed. This greater instability was not explained by loss of leg strength and ROM. Slower speeds led to decreased instability in both groups.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document