Evidence suggests an association between exposure to electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) marketing and e-cigarette use (vaping) among adolescents. However, there is limited evidence on exposure to e-cigarette marketing and susceptibility to future vaping, especially among Black and Latino adolescents. This study aimed to examine associations between exposure to e-cigarette marketing and susceptibility to future vaping among Black and Latino adolescents in the United States (US). Participants (N = 362; equal representation between Black and Latino adolescents) completed a baseline assessment (available in English and Spanish) including sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., racial/ethnic group, age, gender, sexual orientation, etc.), exposure to e-cigarette marketing, and susceptibility to future vaping. Exposure to e-cigarette marketing was recoded and organized into two categories (high exposure = 2 to 3; low exposure = 0 to 1). Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel tests were used to evaluate the association between exposure to e-cigarette marketing and susceptibility to future vaping, stratified by racial/ethnic group. Multiple logistic regressions assessed the association between exposure to e-cigarette marketing and susceptibility to future vaping, controlling for gender, sexual orientation, grade, and academic performance within each racial/ethnic group. Black adolescents reported significantly higher frequencies of exposure to e-cigarette marketing (p = 0.005). A significant interaction was found between exposure to e-cigarette marketing and racial/ethnic group (X² (1) = 6.294, p = 0.012). Among Black adolescents, high exposure to e-cigarette marketing (vs. low exposure) was associated with a higher probability of susceptibility to future vaping (OR: 2.399, 95% CI 1.147–5.021, p = 0.020). For Latino adolescents, exposure to e-cigarette marketing was not associated with susceptibility to future vaping (OR: 0.503, 95% CI 0.245–1.03, p = 0.062). Future studies should evaluate how and where adolescents are exposed to e-cigarette marketing. Prevention efforts must include the implementation of effective counter-marketing campaigns and the reduction of exposure to e-cigarette marketing among Black and Latino adolescents.

The sample geometric mean has been widely used in biomedical and psychosocial research to estimate and compare population geometric means. However, due to the detection limit of measurement instruments, the actual value of the measurement is not always observable. A common practice to deal with this problem is to replace missing values by small positive constants and make inferences based on the imputed data. However, no work has been carried out to study the effect of this naïve imputation method on inference. In this report, we show that this simple imputation method may dramatically change the reported outcomes of a study and, thus, make the results uninterpretable, even if the detection limit is very small.

Objective: To determine whether caffeine independently influenced linear growth during NICU hospitalization in moderately preterm infants. Study Design: We performed a single-center retrospective cohort study. Our primary outcome was the change in length z-score from birth to discharge or 37 weeks’ corrected gestational age (CGA). Secondary outcomes included change in weight and head circumference z-scores. Multiple regression analysis controlling for an a priori list of covariates was performed to evaluate the association between caffeine dose and the growth outcomes. Results: In 308 infants 29-33 weeks' gestational age, greater cumulative caffeine dose was significantly associated with a progressive decline in length (p=0.04), weight (p=0.03), and head circumference z-scores, (p<0.05). Conclusion(s): Caffeine exposure in moderately preterm infants has an independent dose-dependent inverse relationship with linear growth, weight gain, and head growth.