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Neuroimaging Approaches to Improve Prediction of Smoking Initiation and Nicotine Escalation in Young Adult ENDS Users

Neuroimaging Approaches to Improve Prediction of Smoking Initiation and Nicotine Use Escalation Among Young Adult Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Users

Who can join

Ages 18 to 29 · All sexes · Healthy volunteers welcome

Inclusion Criteria:

* used e-cigarettes or other vaping devices at least 3 days during the past 30 days
* did not smoke a cigarette, even one or two puffs, during the past 30 days
* Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatible and safe

Exclusion Criteria:

* used e-cigarettes or other vaping devices for less than 3 days during the past 30 days
* any use of cigarettes during the past 30 days
* history of a major neurological, psychiatric, or medical disorder
* MRI contraindications

About the study

180 young adult vapers who are not current smokers will participate in a baseline functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment, prospectively linked to a 1-year randomized controlled trial. Baseline fMRI tasks will probe critical neurocognitive markers with high potential to account for individual differences in nicotine use prognosis and responsiveness to anti-vaping public service announcements (PSAs). Participants will be assigned randomly to a survey-only control condition, or one of two intervention orders, Regular PSA then Flavor PSA, and Flavor PSA then Regular PSA (n=60 each) in a 1-year counterbalanced crossover design. Every week intervention groups will receive anti-vaping PSAs either do not specifically address harms associated with vaping flavors (regular PSAs) or PSAs with a theme focusing on the harms of flavored vape products (flavor PSAs). Participants of the intervention groups will switch PSA exposure condition after 6 months. Their evaluations of the PSAs will be assessed with brief weekly online surveys. The links to the weekly online surveys will be sent via e-mail and text which allow them to access the surveys using any device with an internet browser. During the survey, the PSA of that week will first be displayed to PSA groups (n=120), followed by a query to provide message evaluation. Afterward, the survey questions will also assess their e-cigarette, cigarette, other tobacco use, and nicotine dependence, during the past week. The control group (n=60) will complete the surveys without viewing PSAs. In-person assessments at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months will biochemically confirm nicotine exposure.

What is being tested

• Exposure to Anti-Vaping Messages (generic themes then flavor-specific themes) (behavioral)
• Exposure to Anti-Vaping Messages (flavor-specific themes then generic themes) (behavioral)
• Exposure to Anti-Vaping Messages (no message exposure) (behavioral)

Sponsor: University of Georgia · Participants: 180 · Started: Jul 15, 2022

Contact the study team

• Jiaying Liu, PhD · Phone: 949-241-0652

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT05447325

Locations in the U.S.

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Oct 2, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.