Reach News

09 Dec ReACH Lab Director Publishes Article Investigating the Impact of Peers and Parents on Adolescent Electronic Cigarette Use

ReACH Lab director Dr. Elisa Trucco, along with ReACH Lab graduate student Julie Cristello and ACE Project Co-PI Dr. Matthew Sutherland, recently published an article in the Journal of Adolescent Health titled “Do Parents Still Matter? The Impact of Parents and Peers on Adolescent Electronic Cigarette Use.” Researchers used data from the ongoing ACE Project using a sample of e-cigarette naive adolescents (i.e. teens who have not used e-cigarettes) to examine whether parental attitudes towards e-cigarettes impacted adolescent e-cigarette intentions, future e-cigarette use, and positive expectancies of use, while accounting for peer norms and adolescent attitudes. Results found that, while peer norms were associated with positive expectancies of e-cigarette use, positive expectancies did not mediate the association between peer norms and later e-cigarette use.  These findings indicate that, while peer norms contribute to positive expectancies adolescents develop about e-cigarettes, this may not suffice to influence actual e-cigarette use. Furthermore, it may be that parental influence ultimately buffers the effect of peer norms and positive expectancies on a teen’s decision to engage in e-cigarette use. Results found that parents’ perceptions of the harms of e-cigarette use not only influence adolescent e-cigarette use intentions (when controlling for adolescent attitudes and perceived peer norms), but also predict lower rates of e-cigarette use via e-cigarette use intentions. Results from the study indicate that parents still play an active role in influencing early stages of e-cigarette use among their adolescent children. Implementing school-based e-cigarette education programs, consisting of youth-, parent-, and teacher-modules, and promoting effective and frequent parental communication with youth regarding e-cigarettes, may be useful in reducing e-cigarette intentions and increasing harmful perceptions of e-cigarettes.

25 Nov CDC Reports United States E-Cigarette Sales Increased by 300%

According to an article published by “CNN Health,” the Centers for Control and Disease Prevention (CDC) has reported an increase of about 300% in the sales of e-cigarettes. The CDC report revealed a 294% increase in sales between November 2016 to August 2019 and a 122% increase from September 2014 to May 2020. In February 2020, the Trump administration endorsed a “flavor ban,” allowing the FDA to enforce regulations on flavored vaping products. However, some of the vaping flavor products were exempt from this rule, such as tobacco and menthol. This exemption brought concern to many health experts due to the increased probability of redirecting users to the more available products. The CDC now reports that disposable e-cigarettes made up about 20% of product sales, where tobacco and menthol flavors dominated the pre-filled cartridge market. Matthew Meyers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says “kids have shifted dramatically to the menthol and disposable e-cigarettes left on the market under the Trump Administration policy.” It is known that vaping companies have found loopholes in the system allowing them to continue selling flavored products under the radar, contributing to the epidemic. A collective statement released by The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and Truth Initiative reads “Youth e-cigarette use has skyrocketed to epidemic levels and millions of kids have been put at risk of nicotine addiction. The cause of this crisis is clear: tobacco companies have lured kids with appealing flavors and hooked them with massive doses of nicotine. The FDA must act decisively to stop them.”

17 Nov CDC Report Finds Increase in Adverse Mental Health Outcomes and Substance Use Linked to COVID-19

A report published by the CDC in August of this year highlights adverse outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report found that symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders were significantly higher in the United States from April-June of this year, compared to 2019, indicating that the increase is due in part to the challenges related to COVID-19. The CDC assessed mental health, substance use, and suicidal ideation with representative panel surveys on a sample of over five thousand adults 18 and older across the United States. Of the sample, 40.9% of participants reported at least “one adverse mental or behavioral health condition,” such as symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder (30.9%) and having started or increased substance use in order to “cope with stress or emotions related to COVID-19” (13.3%). The percentage of respondents who reported seriously considering suicide in the 30 days before completing the survey (10.7%) was higher among younger respondents, Latinx or Black respondents, unpaid caregivers for adults, and essential workers. The report suggests community-level intervention and prevention efforts to specifically target these groups in order to address various mental health conditions associated with COVID-19. 

11 Nov Study Observes Long-Term Health Effects of Vaping on Youth

The number of individuals using e-cigarettes has dramatically increased over the years, reaching the current status of an epidemic. Despite this alarming rate, the devices and their health consequences on the adolescent population are rarely studied. According to an article published by “News Medical Life Sciences,” an estimate of about 9.6% of eighth graders are vaping, 19.9% of tenth graders are vaping, and 25.5% of twelfth graders are vaping. A group of researchers, led by Associate Director of Research for the Department of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine at The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Robinder Khemani, MD, MSci, is bound to find new evidence on the health effects of e-cigarette use in adolescent populations. The team plans to focus on the new condition defined by the Center for Disease control—EVALI, which means “e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated injury.” This ongoing study is phase II of the clinical trials he is already leading—REDvent (“Real-time- Effort Driven VENTilator)—which tests a new method for ventilator therapy on patients. About 90% of the patients involved in the trial have had pediatric acute respiratory disease (PARDS), causing leakage into the lungs which makes it hard for the individual to breathe. The study is focused on children and adolescents at the intensive care unit who have PARDS, and examines if “the lung injury experienced from vaping is similar to lung injury resulting from other PARDS triggers.” A very unique factor of this study is its research in the health consequences of secondary exposure of vaping and whether or not it increases the probability of more severe lung injury when diagnosed with PARDS. Dr. Kehmani and his team hope to “debunk the myth that vaping is benign.”

03 Nov ReACH Lab RA Secures Seat at FIU’s MD Program

26 Oct ReACH Lab Member Joins the Miami Recovery Project

ReACH Lab Graduate Student, Julie Cristello, recently became a Board Member of the Miami Recovery Project (MRP). MRP is an emerging Recovery Community Organization working to provide recovery support to individuals in South Florida. This organization is dedicated to the health of the community by providing support and care during difficult times. On September 30^th, they hosted their first event in honor of National Recovery Month. The event provided attendees with information on multiple pathways to recovery, and on stigmatizing language. Due to the efforts put forth by this organization, the mayor, Carlos Giménez, has proclaimed the month of September to be “recovery month” in Miami-Dade county.

For more information on the Miami Recovery Project: https://miamirecoveryproject.org

26 Oct ReACH Director Receives Community Engagement Award

ReACH Lab Director, Dr. Elisa Trucco, was awarded Florida International University, College of Arts, Sciences, and Education’s Community Engagement Award. This award recognizes efforts to connect with the community, both locally and globally, to address relevant issues of our time. Dr. Trucco along with collaborator Dr. Sutherland have conducted 42 community engagement events on separate days and have interacted with close to 6,700 individuals, including 523 school and community personnel, 863 parents, and 5,280 students. Their engagement efforts may be instrumental in helping to reduce the rates of vaping among youth within our community.

22 Oct ReACH Lab Publishes Review Paper on Youth Vaping

ReACH Lab Director, Dr. Elisa Trucco, along with graduate students, Nilofar Fallah-Sohy, Sarah Hartmann, and Julie Cristello, published a review paper in Current Addition Reports focused on youth vaping. The review discusses factors that likely contribute to the growing popularity of e-cigarette use among youth. Check out the full article online.

14 Oct ACE Project PIs Honored with “Faculty Award for Excellence in Engagement”

Congratulations are in order for Dr. Elisa Trucco and Dr. Matthew Sutherland, Co-PIs on the ACE Project, for receiving the “Faculty Award for Excellence in Engagement” following a recommendation from the Faculty Senate Honorary Degree and Awards Committee. This award recognizes excellence in the university’s “Engagement Initiative Program,” which is defined as a formal collaboration between the faculty and a local, regional or global community partner. The award recognizes the interplay among teaching, research, and learning. 

If you would like to attend the 2020 Virtual Faculty Convocation Ceremony tomorrow, October 15th, you can do so using this link from 2:30-4pm. Congratulations to Dr. Trucco and Dr. Sutherland for this amazing accomplishment!

12 Oct ReACH Lab Director Awarded Tenure at Florida International University