Although electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were designed to vaporize a liquid mixture containing nicotine, previous research has shown the prevalence of other substance use in e-cigarettes (OSUE) is rising among certain groups. A new study examined OSUE among undergraduate students at one U.S. university (N = 5,429) who reported lifetime use of e-cigarette use (N = 1,542). Participants completed a cross-sectional, online survey and reported their demographic characteristics, tobacco use (cigarette and smokeless), e-cigarette use and perceived harm of use, reasons for e-cigarette use, and OSUE. The authors computed descriptive statistics to examine demographic information across all e-cigarette users, e-cigarette users reporting OSUE, and e-cigarette users not reporting OSUE. Chi square analysis was used to determine whether covariates significantly differed between OSUE and no OSUE groups and binomial logistic regression was used to predict OSUE. Results showed the sample was 55.3% women and 88.6% White. 87.0% of respondents reported no Greek affiliation. Nearly half of participants (45.3%) reported they had never smoked tobacco, but 37.7% reported they were current smokers and 17.0% identified as former smokers. Almost 7.0% of e-cigarette users reported OSUE. Men were significantly more likely to report OSUE than women. Average perceived harm of e-cigarette use was lower among participants who reported OSUE, but not significantly. Students who reported past-month alcohol (p = 0.02), marijuana (p < 0.0005), ecstasy (p < 0.0005) use and prescription pain medication misuse (p = 0.001) were significantly more likely to report OSUE than other participants. E-cigarette users who did not report OSUE cited experimentation, friends’ use, and greater perceived safety of e-cigarettes (compared to traditional cigarettes) as their top three reasons for using e-cigarettes. Among the OSUE group, these reasons were greater perceived safety, experimentation, and friends’ use. 77.9% of the OSUE group reported using cannabis in e-cigarettes, while 16.4% of this group refused to report or did not know what substance they used. Results of the binomial logistic regression showed women were less likely to report OSUE compared to men (OR: 0.60, CI: 0.39-0.91), former smokers were more likely to report OSUE than never smokers (OR: 0.1.87, CI: 1.16-3.04), and e-cigarette users who used e-cigarettes for “trendy or cool” reasons were more likely to report OSUE (OR: 2.89, CI: 1.53-5.45). Unexpectedly, Greek affiliation was not associated with OSUE. The authors believe this may be because this study contained relatively few fraternity/sorority members.
Take away: In this sample, almost 7.0% reported using a substance other than nicotine in e-cigarettes, most commonly cannabis (77.9%). Male sex, former smoker status, and motivation to use e-cigarettes to look “trendy or cool” were associated with higher odds of using other substances in e-cigarettes.