Covid-19 lockdown linked to uptick in tobacco use: Study

A new study has found that pandemic-related anxiety, boredom, and irregular routines were cited as major drivers of increased nicotine and tobacco use during the initial Covid-19 lockdown.

The findings of the study were published in the International Journal of Drug Policy. The research was led by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

The study highlighted the ways that public health interventions and policies can better support quit attempts and harm reduction, both during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. Decreased use, while less common, was prevalent among "social" tobacco users, who cited fewer interpersonal interactions during the lockdown and a fear of sharing products.

At the community level, retail access impacted cigarette and ENDS use differently. While cigarettes were universally accessible in essential businesses, such as convenience stores and gas stations, access to preferred ENDS products was more limited, since "vape shops" and other specialty ENDS retailers were typically deemed non-essential and required to close or limit hours.

This drove some ENDS users to order their products online, which often resulted in long wait times due to shipping delays, or product backorder as a result of high demand. As a result, some dual users of cigarettes and ENDS increased their use of readily-available cigarettes.