Features of the formation of nicotine addiction among consumers of electronic cigarettes

Background. At present, there is a significant increase in the proportion of consumers of electronic cigarettes (EC) and electronic means of heating tobacco in the structure of tobacco and nicotine-containing products, widespread misconceptions about its safety are harmful to health. Advertising about the harmlessness and less toxicity of EC contributed to their popularity among young people. Fashion addiction disrupts the development of the central nervous system in children and adolescents, causes irritability, anxiety, inattention, lethargy, drowsiness, obsessive thoughts and phobias, leads to the development of diseases of the bronchopulmonary and cardiovascular systems. Objective: to study the features of the formation of nicotine dependence in electronic cigarette consumers. Material and Methods. With the help of a specially designed questionnaire, an anonymous survey was conducted among residents of Krasnodar (n=393) in the age group from 13 to 38 years. The information was collected through a Google form. Results. According to the online survey, the average age of the respondents was 20.92±2.76 years. The gender distribution showed a predominance of women over men (n=82, 67.8% versus n=39, 32.2%). It was found that more than one third (n=141, 35.9%) of the respondents use both conventional cigarettes and alternative ways of consuming nicotine, most of them (n=121, 85.8%) use only electronic cigarettes. The distribution of ECs by consumption patterns demonstrated a higher (n=55, 45.5%) frequency of use of portable devices (PODs) compared to disposable electronic cigarettes (n=40, 33.1%), IQOS tobacco heating system (n=12, 9.9%), vape - an electronic device that generates a highly dispersed aerosol inhaled by the user (n=9, 7.4%). A minority (n=5, 4.1%) of respondents do not prefer a specific type of EC and smoke different ECs. The majority (75.2%) of the survey participants had symptoms of physical addiction to smoking, and every fifth (19.0%) had symptoms of mental addiction. The main motivational and psychological factors for initiating the use of conventional cigarettes or EC were nicotine consumption against the background of stress or a relevant crisis situation, as means of combating smoking of conventional cigarettes imposed by advertising, as a tribute to a fashion trend, for a company with a close environment, while preference was given to EC with high concentration of nicotine, which indicates the great social significance of the problem of tobacco abuse.