Journal Article

Possible role of caffeine in nicotine use onset among early adolescents: Evidence from the Young Mountaineer Health Study Cohort

Lilly, Christa L., Mann, Michael J., Smith, Megan L., Kristjansson, Alfgeir L., Kogan, Steven M., James, Jack E.

2023

Overview

Preventing nicotine use onset among children and youth is an important public health goal. One possible contributor that has received little empirical investigation is caffeine use. The goal of this study was to examine the possible contribution of caffeine to nicotine onset during early adolescence. We used data from the Young Mountaineer Health Study Cohort. Survey data were collected from 1,349 (response rate: 80.7%) 6th grade students (mean age at baseline 11.5 years) in 20 middle schools in West Virginia during the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021. We limited our analyses to students reporting never having used any form of nicotine at baseline. Logistic regression was employed in analyses. Approximately 8% of participants reported having used nicotine at least once between baseline and the follow-up, and 4.7% reported solely using electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and no other forms of nicotine. In multivariable analyses, we controlled for many environmental, social, and behavioral variables known to influence nicotine use such as alcohol use, peer substance use, and perceived access to nicotine. We formulated our main independent variable, caffeine consumption, as continuous deciles. Any nicotine use, as well as ENDS use only at follow-up, were modeled as dependent variables. Caffeine was significantly associated with nicotine use in both models with ORs of 1.15 (1.04-1.27) and 1.13 (1.00-1.28). Caffeine consumption among 6th grade non-nicotine users was associated with nicotine use at approximately 6-months follow-up.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Adenosine / Adolescence / Adolescent / Adolescents / Alcohol Drinking / Alcohol use / Analysis / Behavior / Biology and Life Sciences / Caffeine / Child / Coffee / Consent / Consumption / Continuity (mathematics) / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / Data collection / Dependent variables / Dopamine / Drug use / Drugs and youth / Electronic cigarettes / Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems / Empirical analysis / Energy drinks / Health aspects / Humans / Independent variables / Longitudinal studies / Medicine and Health Sciences / Multivariable control / Nicotine / Nicotine - adverse effects / Participation / People and Places / Physical Sciences / Psychological aspects / Public health / Schools / Smoking / Social behavior / Social factors / Social Sciences / Students / Substance use / Substance-Related Disorders / Surveys and Questionnaires / Tea / Teenagers / Tobacco / Vaping / Variables / Youth