Potential Impact of FDA Flavor Enforcement Policy on Vaping Behavior on Twitter

Abstract

In January 2020, the FDA announced an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) flavor enforcement policy to restrict the sale of all unauthorized cartridge-based flavored e-cigarettes except tobacco and menthol flavors, which was implemented on 6 February 2020. This study aimed to understand the potential influence of this policy on one vaping behavior change—quitting vaping—using Twitter data. Twitter posts (tweets) related to e-cigarettes were collected between June 2019 and October 2020 through a Twitter streaming API. Based on the geolocation and keywords related to quitting vaping, tweets mentioning quitting vaping from the US were filtered. The demographics (age and gender) of Twitter users who mentioned quitting vaping were further inferred using a deep learning algorithm (deepFace). The proportion of tweets and Twitter users mentioning quitting vaping were compared between before and after the announcement and implementation of the flavor policy. Compared to before the FDA flavor policy, the proportion of tweets (from 0.11% to 0.20% and 0.24%) and Twitter users (from 0.15% to 0.70% and 0.86%) mentioning quitting vaping were significantly higher after the announcement and implementation of the policy (p-value < 0.001). In addition, there was an increasing trend in the proportion of female and young adults (18–35 years old) mentioning quitting vaping on Twitter after the announcement and implementation of the policy compared to that before the policy. Our results showed that the FDA flavor enforcement policy did have a positive impact on quitting vaping on Twitter. Our study provides an initial evaluation of the potential influence of the FDA flavor enforcement policy on user vaping behavior.

ENDS Tobacco Flavors, Public Health, and Toxicity

“…[45] Compared to before the FDA flavor policy, the proportion of tweets and Twitter user mentions after the implementation of the policy was higher. [45] They also reported that after the policy implementation (compared to before) there was an increasing trend in the proportion of females and young adults (18-35 years old) mentioning quitting vaping. [45] They concluded that, as observed on Twitter, the FDA policy did have a positive effect on quitting vaping and therefore a potential influence of the FDA flavor enforcement policy on broader definitions of vaping behavior.…”

“…[45] They also reported that after the policy implementation (compared to before) there was an increasing trend in the proportion of females and young adults (18-35 years old) mentioning quitting vaping. [45] They concluded that, as observed on Twitter, the FDA policy did have a positive effect on quitting vaping and therefore a potential influence of the FDA flavor enforcement policy on broader definitions of vaping behavior. [45] Another public health intervention for vaping cessation is the use of free vaping cessation apps, which have various content, features, and adherence to evidence-based approaches.…”

“…[41,43] To address the vaping epidemic, especially among youth, in 2021 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implemented a flavor enforcement policy to restrict the sales of all cartridgebased unauthorized flavored e-cigarettes other than tobacco and menthol flavors. [45,46] Evaluation of the impact of FDA flavor enforcement policy on e-cigarette use behavior is in progress. One study assessed the potential impact of the flavor enforcement policy on a specific vaping-related behavior change-quitting vaping-using natural language processing strategies with data collected from the Twitter platform.…”

“…One study assessed the potential impact of the flavor enforcement policy on a specific vaping-related behavior change-quitting vaping-using natural language processing strategies with data collected from the Twitter platform. [45] The proportion of tweets (and Twitter users' mentions) concerning quitting vaping was compared before and after the implementation of the FDA flavor policy. [45] Compared to before the FDA flavor policy, the proportion of tweets and Twitter user mentions after the implementation of the policy was higher.…”

“…[45] The proportion of tweets (and Twitter users' mentions) concerning quitting vaping was compared before and after the implementation of the FDA flavor policy. [45] Compared to before the FDA flavor policy, the proportion of tweets and Twitter user mentions after the implementation of the policy was higher. [45] They also reported that after the policy implementation (compared to before) there was an increasing trend in the proportion of females and young adults (18-35 years old) mentioning quitting vaping.…”