How using both cigarettes and e-cigarettes affects quitting smoking
Official title: Dual use of combustible and electronic cigarettes: A fine-grained naturalistic cohort study to investigate dynamic use patterns and trajectories that lead to smoking cessation
Funded at Medical University of South Carolina · NIH-11312643 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project follows adults who both smoke cigarettes and use e-cigarettes to learn how their day-to-day use patterns connect to quitting combustible cigarettes.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Medical University of South Carolina NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Charleston, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2024 |
| Project end | April 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $668,152 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DA061566-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11312643 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults aged 21 or older who currently both smoke combustible cigarettes and use e-cigarettes are ideal candidates for this project.
✕Less likely to help
People under 21, those who only smoke or only use e-cigarettes, or those unwilling to provide regular use reports are unlikely to receive direct benefit from participating.
What this research studies
If I join, researchers will follow adults who both smoke and vape over time and collect detailed daily information about when and how much they smoke and use e-cigarettes. They will compare these day-to-day patterns and long-term use trajectories with people who only smoke or only vape to see which pathways lead to sustained quitting of combustible cigarettes. The study uses naturalistic, frequent tracking instead of yearly snapshots so it can capture short-term changes and transitions. The goal is to show when dual use reduces harm and when it keeps people smoking.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could reveal the patterns that help people quit cigarettes and guide better treatments and public health policies.
How similar studies have gone: Prior yearly cohort surveys have suggested dual use can be transient or prolonged, but few studies have captured fine-grained daily patterns, so this more detailed approach is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Carpenter, Matthew J — Medical University of South Carolina
- Study coordinator: Carpenter, Matthew J
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.