Recency of Cannabis Vaping in Sexual Minorities in Wave 5 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study

Abstract

Background

Cannabis vaping is increasing in the United States. Among populations at-risk are sexual minorities (SM) who are more likely to vape cannabis compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Cannabis vaping has been associated with negative health outcomes and concomitant use of other substances with increased risk with more recent use.

Objectives

This study examined the association between SM identification and recency of cannabis vaping (the last occasion that a participant used their vape device with cannabis) and number of puffs (the count of puffs that the participant took during their most recent use of their vape device with cannabis) using Wave 5 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study.

Results

In a weighted sample of participants who reported ever vaping cannabis (N = 5,331), 15% identified as SM, about 60% vaped cannabis in the past 3 or more days, and the mean number of puffs was 2 (SE = 0.17). Using multinomial logistic regression and zero-inflated negative binomial regression, the results showed that compared to heterosexual adults who reported not recently vaping cannabis, SM had higher probabilities of vaping cannabis in the past 3 or more days, 1-2 days, and the day of interview.

Conclusion

SM individuals were more likely to recently vape cannabis, placing them at higher risk for respiratory diseases and use of other substances. Public health researchers and practitioners need to identify reasons for cannabis vaping in this population and implement targeted public health messaging to inform SM communities of the potential health effects of cannabis vaping.

Keywords:

• Cannabis vaping
• sexual minorities
• lGBTQ+
• THC

Disclosure statement

Dr. Ahluwalia received sponsored funds for travel expenses as a speaker for the 2021 and 2022 annual GTNF conference. Dr. Ahluwalia also serves as a consultant and has equity in a startup company, Respira Technologies. The rest of the authors have no competing interests to declare.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare there is no Complete of Interest at this study.

Additional information

Funding

NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence; Drs. Maglalang and Ahluwalia were supported in part by P20GM130414 (PI: Monti), an NIH funded Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE). Baslock was supported by NIDA grant (T32 DA007233).