The use of e-cigarettes or vaping has been steadily increasing since its introduction. While potentially a tool to wean cigarette smokers from combustible tobacco, one consequence of the introduction of these devices has been the adoption of vaping by adolescents. While companies that offer vaping instruments for sale note that their material is directed to adults and intended as an aid for smoking cessation, recent reports have demonstrated that middle school and high school students in many countries, some as young as thirteen, have taken to vaping. Data analysis from a 2015 study in the U.S. indicated that 16% of high school students and 5% of middle school students reported vaping in the past thirty days. Most researchers speculated that the number of users would increase from these baselines and evidence indicates that this prediction is correct. Anecdotal evidence indicates that vaping in middle school and high school bathrooms is a major problem. FreshAir Sensor currently sells tobacco and marijuana smoking sensors along with 24/7 monitoring of the devices. The company has leveraged the knowledge of sensor development to produce preliminary components of an early stage sensing system capable of detecting vaping. Preliminary data to demonstrate this accomplishment is provided. The fast track research described in this proposal will enable the optimization of the sensor as well as commercialization of the resulting instrument in minimal time. The need to reduce and eventually eliminate adolescent vaping is urgent. The deployment of the proposed device in schools and other educational institutions will eliminate vaping during school hours and will, therefore, contribute to improvements in the overall health of adolescents by curtailing nicotine intake.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Narrative Vaping has become a problem in schools with students, in steadily increasing numbers, using bathrooms and other less monitored spaces to indulge in the use of the newest vaping hardware. FreshAir Sensor is developing a sensor to detect vaping in otherwise unmonitored spaces. The use of this sensing system has the potential to reduce and, eventually, eliminate vaping behavior in schools, thereby reducing the harmful effects of nicotine in adolescents.
NIH Spending Category: Behavioral and Social Science; Bioengineering; Drug Abuse (NIDA only); Pediatric; Prevention; Substance Abuse; Tobacco
Project Terms: Adolescent; adolescent health; Adoption; Adult; Air; Algorithms; base; Behavior; Chemicals; Cigarette Smoker; commercialization; Country; Data; Data Analyses; design; Detection; detector; Development; Devices; Dose; Effectiveness; Electronic cigarette; electronic cigarette use; Electronics; Engineering; Environmental Risk Factor; Event; Exposure to; Fatigue; Film; Goals; high school; High School Student; Hour; Humidity; Institution; instrument; Intake; junior high school; Knowledge; Laboratories; Longevity; machine learning algorithm; Marijuana; Marijuana Smoking; Methods; Middle School Student; Minor; Modality; Monitor; monitoring device; Morphology; Neurotoxins; Nicotine; Phase; Polymers; Production; Property; prototype; Public Housing; Reporting; Research; research and development; Research Personnel; response; Sales; Schools; Science; sensor; sensor technology; Smoking; smoking cessation; Specificity; Students; System; Temperature; Testing; Time; Tobacco; Tobacco smoking behavior; tool; vaping; vapor; Weaning
