Publications by authors named "Loren Kock"

Importance: Offering pregnant women financial rewards to stop smoking is associated with a more than 2-fold increase in smoking cessation and is cost-effective; however, it is possible that the association is the result of gaming of the outcome measure (eg, not smoking for 24 hours before outcome measurement using a carbon monoxide breath test). Birth weight is an outcome measure that is independent of the rewards process.

Objective: To examine birth weight change associated with offering financial rewards for smoking cessation to pregnant women, and to estimate the average expected birth weight change for neonates born to those who quit smoking because of the rewards.

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Background And Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in alcohol consumption in England. Evidence suggests that one-fifth to one-third of adults increased their alcohol consumption, while a similar proportion reported consuming less. Heavier drinkers increased their consumption the most and there was a 20% increase in alcohol-specific deaths in England in 2020 compared with 2019, a trend continuing through 2021 and 2022.

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Objective And Rationale: This study assessed support for novel tobacco compared with alcohol control policies among adults in Great Britain in 2021-2023. Objectives were to assess 1) overall level of support for tobacco compared to alcohol control policies; 2) level of support for tobacco compared to alcohol control policies among people who smoke tobacco or who consume alcohol at increasing and higher risk levels, or who do both; 3) level of support for tobacco compared to alcohol control policies among different sociodemographic groups?

Methods: Data were collected in September/October 2021-2023 in a monthly population-based survey on smoking and drinking behaviour of adults across Great Britain (N = 6311), weighted to match the overall population. Outcome measure was level of support for each seven tobacco and alcohol control policies.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study analyzed trends in vaping among ex-smokers in England from 2013 to 2024, showing a significant rise in e-cigarette use for smoking cessation efforts and ongoing vaping among those who quit smoking.
  • - Data was collected from a representative sample of over 54,000 adults, revealing that e-cigarette support for quitting smoking increased from 26.9% in 2013 to 41.4% by 2024.
  • - The findings highlighted that younger ex-smokers exhibited the highest vaping rates, with current vaping among those who quit smoking lasting over a year reaching 58.9% in 18-year-olds versus only 10.7% in those aged 65 and
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Objective: To identify the most commonly reviewed behaviour change techniques (BCTs) and their effectiveness based on consistency across reviews for lifestyle interventions of non-communicable diseases.

Design: Umbrella review of systematic reviews.

Data Sources: PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane CENTRAL, Global Health.

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Background: To examine birth weight change caused by adding financial rewards for smoking cessation compared to no rewards for pregnant women. To estimate the average expected birth weight change for those who quit because of rewards.

Methods: This study updates a previous systematic review and refocuses the outcome from smoking cessation to birth weight.

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Significance: A growing number of adults use more than one tobacco product, with dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes being the most common combination. Monitoring sex disparities in tobacco use is a public health priority. However, little is known regarding whether dual users differ by sex.

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Introduction: The effectiveness of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation may differ by source of purchase. The changing influence of self-selection on purchase location caused by COVID-19 pandemic-related vape shop closures means we can examine the association between smoking abstinence e-cigarette use by purchase source and test for the moderation of this association by the timing of the pandemic.

Aims And Methods: Repeat-cross-sectional nationally representative surveys, conducted between January 2017 and August 2023.

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Background: In the UK in May 2016, standardised packaging of tobacco products was implemented, including minimum pack sizes of 20 sticks or 30 g loose tobacco. The change was intended to reduce uptake by increasing upfront costs to young people, but there was concern it may unintentionally increase consumption among people smoking. This study aimed to assess whether the introduction of the policy was associated with changes in (1) mean daily factory-made (FM)/roll-your-own (RYO) cigarettes consumption among people smoking predominantly (a) FM and (b) RYO cigarettes; and (2) current smoking prevalence among 16-24-year-olds.

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Significance: A growing number of adults use more than one tobacco product, with dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes being the most common combination. Monitoring sex disparities in tobacco use is a public health priority. However, little is known regarding whether dual users differ by sex.

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Objectives: This study assessed public support for four proposed tobacco control policies in Great Britain: (1) Raising the sales age of tobacco by 1 year every year (Smokefree Generation); (2) Raising the sales age of tobacco from 18 years to 21 years; (3) Providing prescription e-cigarettes as smoking cessation aids to adults who smoke; (4) Restricting e-cigarette advertising to prevent youth uptake.

Design: Repeat cross-sectional population-based survey weighted to match the population of Great Britain.

Setting: The survey was conducted in England, Scotland and Wales in September 2021, October 2022 and October 2023.

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Objectives: Gambling is associated with cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. We explored the intersection of gambling across all risk levels of harm with smoking and alcohol use among adults in Great Britain.

Design: A nationally representative cross-sectional survey in October 2022.

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Background: Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 health care delivery underwent considerable changes. It is unclear how this may have affected the delivery of Brief Interventions (BIs) for smoking and alcohol. We examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the receipt of BIs for smoking and alcohol in primary care in England and whether certain priority groups (e.

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Purpose: To estimate the national prevalence of tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol use among U.S. adolescents (age 12-17) and young adults (aged 18-25; adolescents and young adults [AYAs]) with a disability and examine associations between disability and substance use from 2015 to 2019.

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Objective: The main reasons women in the general population seek abortion are financial, timing, and partner-related reasons. While women with opioid use disorder (OUD) appear to use abortion services more than women in the general population, reasons for abortion in this group have not been examined to our knowledge.

Method: Female patients aged 18-50 years in OUD treatment at 22 randomly selected facilities in Michigan were surveyed.

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Objective: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends providers screen their prenatal patients for 11 psychosocial issues because they affect patient mental and physical well-being. The prevalence and co-occurrence of these issues have rarely been compared among pregnant women who do and do not report recent illicit substance use.

Method: Seven psychosocial issues identified by ACOG were operationalized using National Survey on Drug Use and Health variables.

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Contingency management is one of the most effective treatments for substance use disorders in not-pregnant people. The most recent quantitative review of its efficacy among pregnant and postpartum women who smoke cigarettes concluded with moderate certainty that those receiving contingent financial incentives were twice as likely to be abstinent compared with controls. We aimed to update and extend previous reviews.

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Article Synopsis
  • Rates of smoking and vaping are notably higher among individuals with mental health conditions (MHCs) and psychological distress compared to those without.
  • Research involving over 27,000 adults in Great Britain revealed that both current smokers and vapers have a significantly greater history of MHCs.
  • The study indicates that dual users (those who both smoke and vape) are particularly likely to report multiple MHCs, and while smoking heavier and using roll-your-own cigarettes are linked to MHCs, no similar trends were observed with vaping methods.
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It is often believed that pregnant women who use illicit substances are more likely to experience psychosocial issues like smoking, depression, and inadequate health care compared to pregnant women who do not. However, the prevalence of these psychosocial issues has rarely been calculated and compared using nationally representative data. Important psychosocial issues identified by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists were operationalized using variables in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

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Background: Despite growing evidence that e-cigarettes are likely less harmful than cigarettes, perceptions of equal or more harm have increased worldwide. This study aimed to identify the most common reasons behind adults' perceptions of the (i) relative harm of e-cigarettes compared with cigarettes and (ii) effectiveness of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation.

Methods: Adults (N = 1646) from Northern England were recruited through online panels from December-March 2017/2018, using quota sampling to guarantee socio-demographic representativeness.

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Background: Tobacco smoking cessation is associated with improvements in mental health. This study assessed psychological distress, using the K6 non-specific screening tool ((items cover feelings of nervousness, hopelessness, restlessness, depression, 'everything an effort' and worthlessness), by smoking status, time since quit, and use of a non-combustible nicotine product.

Methods: Monthly repeat cross-sectional household survey of adults (18 + ) from October 2020-February 2022 in Great Britain (N = 32,727).

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Aims: To estimate recent trends in the prevalence of disposable e-cigarette vaping in Great Britain, overall and across ages, and to measure these trends in the context of changes in smoking and vaping prevalence.

Design: The Smoking Toolkit Study, a monthly representative cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Great Britain.

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Aim: To examine the level of support for tobacco availability policies across Great Britain (GB) and associations between support for policy and sociodemographic, smoking and quitting characteristics.

Methods: A cross-sectional representative survey (the Smoking Toolkit Study) of adults in GB (n=2197) during September 2021. Logistic regressions estimated the associations between support for each policy and sociodemographic and smoking characteristics.

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Objective: To examine the real-world effectiveness of popular smoking cessation aids, adjusting for potential confounders measured up to 12 months before the quit attempt.

Methods: 1,045 adult (≥18y) smokers in England provided data at baseline (April 2015-November 2020) and reported a serious past-year quit attempt at 12-month follow-up. Our outcome was smoking cessation, defined as self-reported abstinence at 12 months.

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