Correlates of tobacco product reuptake and relapse among youth and adults in the USA: findings from the PATH Study Waves 1–3 (2013–2016) ============================================================================================================================================ * Kathryn C Edwards * Karin A Kasza * Zhiqun Tang * Cassandra A Stanton * Eva Sharma * Michael J Halenar * Kristie A Taylor * Elisabeth A Donaldson * Lynn C Hull * Maansi Bansal-Travers * Jean Limpert * Izabella Zandberg * Lisa D Gardner * Nicolette Borek * Heather L Kimmel * Wilson M Compton * Andrew Hyland ## Abstract **Objective** This study examines sociodemographic and tobacco use correlates of reuptake and relapse to tobacco use across a variety of tobacco products (cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems, cigars, hookah and smokeless tobacco) among the US population. **Design** Data were drawn from the first three waves (2013–2016) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal cohort study of US youth (ages 12–17) and adults (ages 18+). Reuptake (past 30-day use among previous tobacco users) and relapse (current use among former established users; adults only) were examined among previous users of at least one type of tobacco product at Wave 1 (W1) or Wave 2 (W2) (n=19 120 adults, n=3039 youth). Generalised estimating equations were used to evaluate the association between demographic and tobacco use characteristics at baseline, with reuptake/relapse at follow-up, over two 1-year periods (W1–W2 and W2–Wave 3). **Results** Any tobacco product reuptake occurred in 7.8% of adult previous users and 30.3% of youth previous users. Correlates of any tobacco reuptake included being male, non-Hispanic black and bisexual in adults, but race and sexual orientation were not consistent findings in youth. Among recent former users, relapse rates were greater (32.9%). Shorter time since last use and greater levels of tobacco dependence showed the strongest association with any tobacco relapse. **Discussion** Continued clinical and public health efforts to provide adults with tools to cope with tobacco dependence symptoms, especially within the first year or two after quitting, could help prevent relapse. * electronic nicotine delivery devices * non-cigarette tobacco products * surveillance and monitoring ## Introduction The majority of cigarette smokers who make at least one serious quit attempt relapse back to cigarette smoking, usually within the first week of quitting.1–3 This relapse could be due to the addictive nature of nicotine and negative nicotine withdrawal symptoms when stopping use,4 exposure to conditioned cues associated with the automated behaviour of tobacco product use,5 a desire to reinforce the subjective satisfaction derived from the product,6 and/or other social influences or stressors.6 7 Relapse among cigarette smokers has been studied extensively.3 8–13 The cycle between use, discontinued use and relapse can repeat multiple times throughout a tobacco user’s lifetime. Despite great progress in psychosocial and pharmacotherapy interventions, long-term abstinence rates for cigarette smokers tend to be 30% or less, making relapse the most likely outcome for addicted smokers who make a cessation attempt.3 Clinical data on relapse among cigarette smokers have revealed numerous factors associated with relapse, including sociodemographic characteristics (eg, age, race, socioeconomic status),8 9 cognitive and behavioural factors (eg, lack of self-efficacy),14 nicotine dependence/withdrawal,15 experiencing a smoking lapse16 and other comorbidities (eg, psychiatric illness, other substance use).17 Epidemiological studies of smoking relapse are less common and limited due to the cross-sectional nature of most population-based studies. Caraballo *et al* 8 used 25 years of data from a community-based cohort study to assess cigarette smoking relapse. They found that 39% of former smokers (at baseline) relapsed at least once, but of those, 70% had quit again by the end of the study. Using data from the Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey, Yi *et al* 9 investigated sociodemographic factors related to cigarette smoking relapse and found that at least 15% of young adults, ages 18–29, experience smoking relapse (or move from being a former smoker to a current smoker) compared with 3%–8% of older adults, age 30 or older, who relapse to smoking. Researchers have also examined the role of other tobacco product use on cigarette relapse and found that e-cigarette and smokeless tobacco users were more likely to relapse to cigarette smoking than non-users of these products.18–20 Yet less is known about relapse with other tobacco products in the current tobacco marketplace. Non-cigarette tobacco product users exhibit different patterns of use21 and different levels of nicotine dependence.22 23 The lack of data on relapse for tobacco products other than cigarettes is a significant limitation of the current literature, since use of non-cigarette tobacco products has increased in recent years.24–27 Understanding the sociodemographic and tobacco use factors associated with reuptake and relapse to different tobacco products fills a large gap in the primarily cigarette-focused literature. Few studies have assessed the transition from any previous use back to past 30-day (P30D) use (hereafter referred to as product reuptake) or from former established use back to current use (ie, using every day or some days; hereafter referred to as product relapse).8 9 18 We have chosen to differentiate reuptake from relapse to allow exploration of behavioural changes that may or may not be indicative of a persistent pattern of use, especially among youth who may be experimenting with tobacco products. Using longitudinal data of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study to assess within-person changes over time, this study evaluates the sociodemographic and tobacco use correlates of tobacco product reuptake among youth (ages 12–17) and adults (ages 18+), and tobacco product relapse among adults across several tobacco products available in the USA (cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), cigars, hookah and smokeless tobacco). Knowing which sociodemographic and other tobacco use characteristics contribute to reuptake and relapse across a spectrum of tobacco products will enhance a targeted public health approach to preventing tobacco use relapse. ## Methods ### Data source and participants The PATH Study is an ongoing, nationally representative, longitudinal cohort study of youth and adults in the USA to gather information on tobacco use patterns and associated health behaviours. Data were collected from 12 September 2013 to 14 December 2014 (Wave 1 (W1)); from 23 October 2014 to 30 October 2015 (Wave 2 (W2)); and from 19 October 2015 to 23 October 2016 (Wave 3 (W3)). Further details regarding the PATH Study design and W1 methods are published elsewhere.28 The overall weighted response rate was 78.4% for youth and 74.0% for adults at W1, 87.3% for youth and 83.2% for adults at W2, and 83.3% for youth and 78.4% for adults at W3. Details on interview procedures, questionnaires, sampling, weighting, response rates and accessing the data are described in the PATH Study Restricted Use Files User Guide at [https://doi.org/10.3886/Series606](https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/NAHDAP/series/606). The study was conducted by Westat and approved by the Westat Institutional Review Board. All respondents ages 18 or older provided informed consent, with youth respondents ages 12–17 providing assent while each one’s parent/legal guardian provided consent. Data in this paper were drawn from respondents in W1, W2 and W3 of the PATH Study (25 384 adults at W1 or W2 and 12 993 youth at W1 or W2 (eg, among previous users of any tobacco product, youth who aged into adulthood at W2 were included in the youth analyses between W1 and W2 (n=624) and were included in the adult analyses between W2 and W3 (n=270). ‘Shadow youth’ or youth who turned 12 and entered the study at W2 (n=95) were included in the youth analyses between W2 and W3; see online supplementary table 1 for additional details)). ### Supplementary data [[tobaccocontrol-2020-055660supp001.pdf]](pending:yes) The analytic sample is subset to respondents who had ever used a tobacco product but are not P30D users of at least one type of tobacco product at baseline (n=18 988 adults; n=2 983 youth). W1 is considered as the baseline to W2 and W2 is the baseline to W3. The weighted estimates represent the civilian, non-institutionalised population of the USA at the time of W3 who were ages 9 or older at W1, through application of population and replicate weights that adjust for the complex study design characteristics (eg, oversampling at W1) and non-response at W1, W2 and W3. ### Measures #### Tobacco product use Tobacco products were grouped into five types: cigarettes, ENDS (e-cigarettes at W1 and e-cigarettes, e-cigars, e-pipes and e-hookah at W2 and W3), cigars (traditional cigars, cigarillos and filtered cigars), hookah and smokeless tobacco (loose snus, moist snuff, dip, spit, chewing tobacco and snus pouches). Previous use, former established use (adults only) and recent former established use (adults only) are defined (see table 1) for each type of product and any tobacco use. View this table: [Table 1](http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/29/Suppl_3/s216/T1) Table 1 Definitions View this table: [Table 2](http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/29/Suppl_3/s216/T2) Table 2 Correlates of reuptake among previous users at baseline (adults 18+) View this table: [Table 3](http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/29/Suppl_3/s216/T3) Table 3 Correlates of 'Relapse' among former established users (adults 18+) with no P30D tobacco use at baseline #### Outcomes Reuptake was defined as the transition from previous use at baseline (W1 or W2) to P30D use at follow-up (W2 or W3). Relapse was defined as the transition from former established use (former established use cannot be defined from the youth interview) at baseline (W1 or W2) to current every day or some day use at follow-up (W2 or W3). Among adults, relapse was assessed among all former established users, and separately among recent (within the past 12 months) former users. See table 1 for definitions. For a visual depiction of how the reuptake definition compares to the relapse definition, see online supplementary figure 1. #### Demographic characteristics Demographic characteristics were assessed at the baseline wave and categorised as shown in the tables. Missing data on age, sex, race and Hispanic ethnicity were imputed at W1 as described in the PATH Study Restricted Use Files User Guide (imputed sex and race/ethnicity were carried forward to also represent these characteristics at W2; however, age at W2 was used since the time between interviews may not have yielded one additional year in all instances).29 #### Tobacco use characteristics Time since last use for each tobacco product among adult former established users was categorised as: between 30 days and 1 year, between more than 1 year up to 2 years or more than 2 years. Among adult recent former established users only, tobacco dependence was also assessed (using a 16-item measure validated across multiple types of tobacco use, see reference 23 for more details). ### Statistical analyses Generalised estimating equations (GEE) were used to evaluate the association between correlates assessed at baseline and reuptake/relapse to tobacco product use at follow-up, over two 1-year periods (W1–W2 and W2–W3). This statistical method allows for the inclusion of transitions from both periods in a single analysis while statistically controlling for interdependence among observations contributed by the same individuals.30 31 GEE logistic regression models specified unstructured covariance, within-person correlation matrices and the binomial distribution of the dependent variable using the logit link function. Analyses were weighted using the W3 ‘all-wave’ weights to produce nationally representative estimates, and variances were computed using the balanced repeated replication method32 with Fay’s adjustment set to 0.3 to increase estimate stability.33 All analyses were conducted using SAS V.9.4 software (SAS Institute). See online supplementary material for the SAS macro code created to run weighted GEE analyses and calculate adjusted ORs (aORs) and CIs. Analyses were run on the W1–W3 Restricted Use Files to allow for exploration of more race/ethnicity categories and sexual orientation ([https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36231.v18](https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36231.v18)). Demographic and tobacco use correlates were included in each model, adjusting for all correlates including wave among adults and youth separately. ## Results ### Reuptake among previous users #### Adults Among adult previous users, the rate of P30D reuptake of any tobacco product use was 7.8% (95% CI 7.4 to 8.3; table 2) at 1-year follow-up. Rates of P30D reuptake for each type of tobacco product at follow-up were 5.2% (95% CI 4.9 to 5.6) for cigarettes, 16.0% (95% CI 15.2 to 16.8) for ENDS, 7.3% (95% CI 6.9 to 7.8) for cigars, 6.1% (95% CI 5.7 to 6.6) for hookah and 4.4% (95% CI 3.9 to 5.0) for smokeless tobacco. ##### Any tobacco Adults ages 25–39, 40–54 or 55+ (aOR range: 0.1–0.5), those with a bachelor’s degree or higher (aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5 to 0.9), and household income of US$25 000–US$74 999 or ≥ US$75 000 per year (US$25 000–US$74 999: aOR 0.7, 95% C: 0.6 to 0.9; ≥ US$75 000: aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5 to 0.8) had lower odds of tobacco use reuptake than those ages 18–24, those without a high school diploma, and to those with household income less than US$25 000 per year, respectively. Male sex (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.3 to 1.8), non-Hispanic black race/ethnicity (aOR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.7) and identifying as bisexual (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0 to 2.0) all had higher odds of tobacco use reuptake than females, non-Hispanic white race/ethnicity and those who identified as straight/heterosexual, respectively, as shown in table 2. ##### Cigarettes Older adults (ages 25 or older; aOR range=0.2–0.5) and those with a bachelor’s degree or higher (aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5 to 0.9) had lower odds of cigarette use reuptake compared with those ages 18–24 and those without a high school diploma, respectively. Non-Hispanic black (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.2 to 1.9) and Hispanic (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.2 to 1.9) race/ethnicities and identifying as bisexual (aOR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.2) had higher odds of cigarette use reuptake compared with those who are non-Hispanic white or identified as straight/heterosexual. Those who were P30D users of cigars (aOR 2.1, 95% CI 1.8 to 2.5), ENDS (aOR 3.6, 95% CI 2.9 to 4.5) or smokeless tobacco products (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.0) at baseline had higher odds of cigarette use reuptake compared with those who were not P30D users of these products, as shown in table 2. ##### ENDS Older adults (ages 25 or older; aOR range=0.4–0.7) and identifying as non-Hispanic black race/ethnicity (aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.6 to 0.9) had lower odds of ENDS use reuptake compared with those ages 18–24 and to those who are non-Hispanic white. Those who identify as gay or lesbian (aOR 1.4, 95% CI 1.0 to 2.0) had higher odds of ENDS use reuptake compared with heterosexuals. P30D users of cigarettes (aOR 2.1, 95% CI 1.8 to 2.5), cigars (aOR 1.3, 95% CI 1.2 to 1.6) or hookah (aOR 1.8, 95% CI 1.5 to 2.2) at baseline had higher odds of ENDS use reuptake compared with those who were not P30D users of these products, as shown in table 2. ##### Cigars Older adults (ages 25 or older; aOR range=0.3–0.6) had lower odds of cigar use reuptake compared with those ages 18–24. Male sex (aOR 1.6, 95% CI 1.4 to 1.8), non-Hispanic black (aOR 1.9 95% CI 1.5 to 2.3) and Hispanic (aOR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.5) race/ethnicities and those who identified as bisexual (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.0); had higher odds of cigar use reuptake compared with females, those who are non-Hispanic white, and those who identified as heterosexual/straight. P30D users of cigarettes (aOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.7 to 2.2), ENDS (aOR 1.2, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.4), hookah (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.2 to 1.9) or smokeless tobacco products (aOR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.8) at baseline had higher odds of cigar use reuptake compared with those who were not P30D users of these products, as shown in table 2. ##### Hookah Older adults (ages 25 or older; aOR range: 0.3–0.4) and those with a bachelor’s degree or higher (aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5 to 0.9) had lower odds of hookah use reuptake compared with those ages 18–24 or those without a high school diploma. Non-Hispanic black (aOR 2.7, 95% CI 2.1 to 3.5), Hispanic (aOR 1.8, 95% CI 1.4 to 2.2) and non-Hispanic other race (aOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.5 to 2.6) as well as identifying as bisexual (aOR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2 to 2.2) or gay/lesbian (aOR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.3) all had higher odds of hookah use reuptake compared with those who are non-Hispanic white or those who identified as heterosexual/straight. P30D users of cigarettes (aOR 1.4, 95% CI 1.2 to 1.6) or cigars (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.2 to 1.8) at baseline had higher odds of hookah use reuptake compared with those who were not P30D users of these products, as shown in table 2. ##### Smokeless tobacco Adults ages 25 or older (aOR range: 0.2–0.7) and those with a bachelor’s degree or higher (aOR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3 to 0.9) had lower odds of smokeless tobacco reuptake use compared with those ages 18–24 and those without a high school diploma, respectively. Male sex (aOR 2.5, 95% CI 1.8 to 3.5) and P30D use of cigars (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.1) had higher odds of smokeless tobacco use reuptake compared with females and those who were not P30D users of cigars, as shown in table 2. #### Youth Among youth who were previous users of any tobacco product at baseline, the rate of P30D reuptake of any tobacco product use was 30.3% (online supplementary table 2) at follow-up. Rates of P30D reuptake for each type of tobacco product at follow-up ranged from just over 15% (smokeless tobacco) to almost 25% (cigars). Being an older youth (ages 15–17) was a significant predictor of reuptake of any tobacco and of all individual tobacco products except smokeless tobacco. See online supplementary table 2 for additional significant correlates of tobacco product reuptake in youth. ### Relapse among former established users #### Adults Generally, the pattern of findings for relapse of any tobacco use among adult former established users (table 3) was fairly consistent with reuptake among adult previous tobacco users (table 2). Among former established users of any tobacco product at baseline, 6.5% (95% CI 5.9 to 7.2; table 3) relapsed to use of any tobacco product at follow-up. Rates of relapse for each type of tobacco product at follow-up were 4.2% (95% CI 3.7% to 4.7%) for cigarettes, 17.6% (95% CI 15.4 to 19.9) for ENDS, 6.6% (95% CI 5.7 to 7.6) for cigars, 9.1% (95% CI 7.5 to 11.0) for hookah and 6.7% (95% CI 5.2 to 8.6) for smokeless tobacco. ##### Any tobacco Adults ages 25 or older (aOR range: 0.1–0.4) were less likely to relapse than those ages 18–24, while males (aOR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.2) were more likely than females to relapse (see table 3). ##### Cigarettes Adults ages 40 or older (aOR range: 0.4–0.5) and those with larger income (aOR range: 0.6–0.7) were less likely to relapse than those ages 18–24 and those with a household income