UK Researchers to Study Vaping Patterns Via New AI Device

Called Level, the new AI device will be attached to e-cigarettes to record data on users’ vaping patterns, in order to predict how often and when they will need to vape.

Diane Caruana

June 2, 2021

The aim is informing people about their vaping behaviour so that they use cigarettes in an effective manner that helps them quit smoking.

Conducted by researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK, the researchers will observe participants via the device. “We’re using a powerful scientific method to enable us to build a picture of each participant’s smoking and vaping behaviour. This gives us a rare view into how these behaviours fluctuate over time and what psychological, social and environmental factors influence this for each person,” said Felix Naughton, co-lead of the project at UEA’s School of Health Sciences.

The AI device, Level, is an onboard computer and the results it gathers will be used to develop artificial intelligence. The aim is informing people about their vaping behaviour so that they use e-cigarettes in an effective manner that helps them quit smoking.

Level will help researchers gather information about dual use

In a release on the University’s page, lead researcher Dr Emma Ward, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said that this this device will help zoom in on dual use. “Dual using both e-cigarettes and tobacco is common and more than a third of UK e-cigarette users continue to smoke tobacco as well. But we know that smoking tobacco is much more harmful than vaping, and that people who switch from smoking cigarettes to vaping are more likely to remain smoke free. Vaping is a harm reduction approach to quitting smoking, allowing users to cope with nicotine withdrawal by using nicotine in a less harmful way.”

“We want to find out more about how dual use varies over time, and what factors help or hinder smokers in switching away from smoking tobacco to using e-cigarettes.The new technology we’re using is more reliable and sophisticated than the puff counters which come integrated in many e-cigarettes and works by precision measurement of the voltage applied to the atomiser through the duration of the puff. It records the puff topography to build a personalised profile of the user’s vaping patterns,” added Ward.

Distributing free vapes to smokers

Another recent UK study titled, “The Value of Providing Smokers with Free E-Cigarettes: Smoking Reduction and Cessation Associated with the Three-Month Provision to Smokers of a Refillable Tank-Style E-Cigarette,” looked into the rates of smoking cessation and smoking reduction as associated with the provision of free electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) to smokers.

The researchers found that following 90 days, the complete abstinence rate was 36.5%, up from 0% at baseline. The frequency of daily smoking was reduced from 88.7% to 17.5%, and the median consumption of cigarettes per day dropped from 15 cigarettes to 5. Similarly, the median number of days per month that participants smoked, was also reduced from 30 to 13, after 90 days.

“On the basis of these results, there may be value in smoking cessation services and other services ensuring that smokers are provided with e-cigarettes at zero or minimal costs for at least a short period of time,” concluded the researchers.