Vaping and Smoking Project in People With Schizophrenia

Launched by STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO · Apr 17, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial, called the Vaping and Smoking Project, is studying how people with schizophrenia experience withdrawal symptoms from nicotine when they use e-cigarettes (vaping) compared to those who smoke regular cigarettes. The goal is to better understand how nicotine dependence affects people with schizophrenia, which is important since smoking is a leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. By learning more about these differences, researchers hope to develop better ways to help people with schizophrenia quit smoking or vaping.

To participate, individuals need to have been vaping or smoking daily for at least six months and must have a specific level of nicotine in their system. They should also be stable on their antipsychotic medication without any changes in the last six months. However, people planning to quit smoking or vaping soon, those using other tobacco products or cessation medications, or individuals with certain severe conditions will not be eligible. Participants can expect to be part of a study that aims to improve support and treatment options for nicotine dependence in people with schizophrenia.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • 6+ months of daily/near-daily nicotine vaping or cigarette smoking
• • 200+ ng/mL cotinine on a commercially-available quick screen
• • stable antipsychotic medication dose (no changes in past 6 months).
• Current Exclusion Criteria:
• • intention to quit daily/near-daily vaping/smoking in the next month
• • current (2+ days out of the past 7) use of pipe tobacco, hookah/shisha, smokeless tobacco, dissolvable tobacco, nicotine pouches. For vaping group only, current (2+ days out of past 7) use of cigars, cigarillos, or filtered cigars that are filled with tobacco or a mix of tobacco and marijuana
• • current use of any smoking cessation medication
• • current severe substance dependence other than tobacco/nicotine (including cannabis; NIDA Modified ASSIST of 27+)
• • current (past 2 weeks) suicidal ideation with intent and/or plan
• • pregnancy (intake urine screen)
• • florid psychosis or severe cognitive symptoms (score of ≥5 on PANSS items delusions (P1), hallucinatory behavior (P3), or unusual thought content (G9), conceptual disorganization (P2), abstract thinking (N5), or poor attention (G11) or a score ≥6 on grandiosity (P5) or suspiciousness (P6)