TCORS: Center for the Assessment of Tobacco Regulations (CAsToR)

Pilot Project Program

2021 Funding Cycle Awardees

View other award years: 20242022202120202019

Please note: Listing describes appointments and affiliations at the time of award. Please check our Trainees and Alumni pages for current appointments and affiliations.

Title: “A Longitudinal Investigation of the Contribution of Menthol Cigarettes to Disparities in Smoking Cessation and Transitions to Nicotine Vaping Products by Race, Sex, and Socioeconomic Status Using the ITC US Surveys, 2002-2020”
PI: Dr. Pete Driezen, Research Assistant Professor at University of Waterloo
Abstract and accomplishments +
 
Title: “Automating the detection of American adolescents at risk of e-cigarette dependence using machine learning”
PI: Dr. Rui Fu (Ray), Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Toronto
Abstract and accomplishments +
 
Title: “Trajectories of Tobacco Use, Stress, and Health among U.S. Transgender Youth and Adults”
PI: Dr. Luisa Kcomt, Assistant Professor at Wayne State University
Abstract and accomplishments +
 

Selected pilot project

Title: “A Content Analysis of Electronic Cigarette Advertisements on Twitter: Topics and Flavors”
PI: Dr. Ruoyan Sun, Assistant Professor at University of Alabama at Birmingham
Abstract and accomplishments +
Dr. Ruoyan Sun
Dr. Ruoyan SunUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham
Abstract
Introduction: Due to the rapid increase of e-cigarette use, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced an e-cigarette flavor enforcement policy on January 2, 2020, to prohibit the sale and distribution of cartridge-based flavored e-cigarette products (except for tobacco and menthol flavors) in the US. Online conversation from social media offers a unique opportunity to understand how e-cigarette companies are responding to the FDA flavor enforcement policy. Methods: By analyzing e-cigarette advertisements on Twitter, we evaluated the impact of the FDA flavor enforcement policy and identified potential emerging products. We downloaded tweets before the enforcement policy from 1/1/2019 to 12/31/2019 (pre-period) and after the enforcement policy from 1/1/2021-12/31/2021 (post-period). Five main themes were identified: advertisement, URL link, flavor, sale, and cannabis. We also categorized tweets by geolocation information found in the user profile. Results: Comparing tweets between the pre- and post-periods, we saw a substantial decrease in the number of e-cigarette advertisements and the proportion of advertisements posted by US accounts. Among the e-cigarette advertisements, however, there was a slight increase in the proportion that mentioned flavor and sale information. Compared with other countries, tweets posted in the US experienced substantial decreases both in the absolute number and proportion of advertisements. There were also larger increases in the proportion of advertisement tweets mentioning flavor and sale information in other countries. An emerging product we observed from US advertisement tweets is cannabis. Around one-third of all US advertisements in the post-period mentioned cannabis or related products, almost a ten-fold increase. This is rather unique since other countries saw only marginal increases in the proportion of advertisements mentioning cannabis.
Accomplishments
Coming Soon!
 
Title: “Disparities in flavoring patterns of exclusive, dual, and polytobacco use among youth and adults in the U.S.”
PI: Luis Zavala, Doctoral Student at University of Michigan
Abstract and accomplishments +
 

View other award years: 20242022202120202019