• Craig S Ross, Tancy C Zhang, William DeJong, and Michael Siegel.
• Epidemiology Department, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
• Tob Control. 2019 Jan 1; 28 (1): 20-26.

BackgroundIn population studies, vaping is often treated as a dichotomous exposure (present/absent) without consideration of specific vaping devices and materials being used. A survey instrument is needed to record specific vaping devices and materials.MethodsWe developed a database of 613 vaping device models and 3196 vaping liquid products, indexed by device brand, device type, liquid brand, liquid name and liquid flavour type. We developed a survey instrument to allow participants to report their vaping device and liquid from the indexed lists. The survey was pilot tested with a convenience sample of 208 adults (≥age 21). We validated the vaping device and liquid responses with a recontact survey. We report the proportion of respondents finding their products, characteristics of people finding their products and survey response times.ResultsDevices used most frequently in the past 30 days were electronic cigarettes (33% of respondents), vaping pens (28%) and vaping mods (16%). Fifty-seven per cent used liquids containing nicotine most frequently in the past 30 days, followed by liquids without nicotine (20%) and marijuana or hashish (10%). Most (85%) participants found their vaping device successfully (median 19.7 s) and 74% found their vaping liquid (median 19.8 s). Females and older adults were less likely to find their devices and liquids. Responses were validated for 91% and 76% of devices and e-liquids, respectively.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated the feasibility of an internet-based survey instrument to record specific vaping factors for use in studies of vaping and health.© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2019. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

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