Dawkins, L., Turner, J. & Soar, K.Recreational Drugs Research Team, UELhttp://www.uel.ac.uk/psychology/research/drugs.htm

The Electronic Cigarette: Effects on Craving, Withdrawal Symptoms and Memory

The E-cigarette: what is it?

A battery-operated device which delivers nicotine via an inhaled vapour

Previous studies• Bullen et al. (2010)

– Relative to 0mg, the16mg (Ruyan) e-cig reduced craving but not withdrawal symptoms over 60 minutes.

– Mean tmax: 19.6 mins; mean Cmax: 1.3ng/mL

• Eissenberg (2010)– Compared 2 brands of 16mg e-cigs to tobacco smoking– Only tobacco smoking sig raised blood nicotine levels – Both e-cigs ineffective at suppressing craving

Aim:

To explore the effects of the electronic cigarette (‘White Super’;TECC) on nicotine withdrawal symptoms, craving and working

memory

Methods:• Participants: 85 regular smokers abstinent for

at least 1 hour• Randomly allocated to ‘nicotine’, ‘placebo’ or

‘just-hold’ (single-blind)• Rated craving and withdrawal symptoms

before, 5 & 20 minutes after using the e-cig ‘ad-lib’ for 5 minutes

• A subset (N = 60) completed a working memory task

Measures• Single item craving scale• Mood and Physical Symptoms Scale (MPSS)• Trigram Working Memory Task (Brown &

Peterson)

T

BN

3 sec presentation

Count backwards in threes

RECALL

Results: demographicsNicotine N = 30

PlaceboN = 28

Just holdN = 27

TotalN = 85

Age 27.70 (8.51)

28.93 (9.82)

31.26 (8.76)

29.23 (9.05)

FTND 4.53 (2.24)

5.71 (1.72)

5.37(2.31)

5.19 (2.14)

Gender M:F 14:16 15:13 13:14 42:43

EthnicityB:W:A:O

7:16:6:1 11:6:4:3 8:11:7:1 26:33:17:5

B = Black; W = White; A = Asian; O = other/undisclosed

Results: craving

# indicates sig difference from baseline * indicates sig difference from just hold ^ indicates sig difference from placebo at each time point (p < 0.05)

#*

#

Results: withdrawal symptoms

# indicates sig difference from baseline * indicates sig difference from just hold ^ indicates sig difference from placebo at each time point (p < 0.05)

Results: WM

* *

*

* indicates a significant difference (p < 0.01) from parallel interval duration under nicotine

Summary & Conclusions• The e-cigarette can reduce craving and (to a

lesser extent) nicotine withdrawal symptoms• BUT the actual nicotine content may be

more important for males than females• Nicotine e-cigarette can prevent the memory

decrement that usually occurs with increasing delays/interference (needs replicating)

Acknowledgements

• Tom Kent (undergraduate student)• Surrayyah Hasna (Undergraduate student)• Dawn Markham (Undergraduate student)• The Electronic Cigarette Company