RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Time-varying association between cigarette and ENDS use on incident hypertension among US adults: a prospective longitudinal study JF BMJ Open JO BMJ Open FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group SP e062297 DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-062297 VO 13 IS 4 A1 Cook, Steven A1 Hirschtick, Jana L A1 Barnes, Geoffrey A1 Arenberg, Douglas A1 Bondarenko, Irina A1 Patel, Akash A1 Jiminez Mendoza, Evelyn A1 Jeon, Jihyoun A1 Levy, David A1 Meza, Rafael A1 Fleischer, Nancy L YR 2023 UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/4/e062297.abstract AB Objective Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products have emerged as the most popular alternative to combustible cigarettes. However, ENDS products contain potentially dangerous toxicants and chemical compounds, and little is known about their health effects. The aim of the present study was to examine the prospective association between cigarette and ENDS use on self-reported incident hypertension.Design Longitudinal cohort study.Setting Nationally representative sample of the civilian, non-institutionalised population in the USA.Participants 17 539 adults aged 18 or older who participated at follow-up and had no self-reported heart condition or previous diagnosis of hypertension or high cholesterol at baseline.Measures We constructed a time-varying tobacco exposure, lagged by one wave, defined as no use, exclusive established use (every day or some days) of ENDS or cigarettes, and dual use. We controlled for demographics (age, sex, race/ethnicity and household income), clinical risk factors (family history of heart attack, obesity, diabetes and binge drinking) and smoking history (cigarette pack-years).Outcomes Self-reported incident hypertension diagnosis.Results The self-reported incidence of hypertension was 3.7% between wave 2 and wave 5. At baseline, 18.0% (n=5570) of respondents exclusively smoked cigarettes; 1.1% (n=336) exclusively used ENDS; and 1.7% (n=570) were dual users. In adjusted models, exclusive cigarette use was associated with an increased risk of self-reported incident hypertension compared with non-use (adjusted HR (aHR) 1.21, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.38), while exclusive ENDS use (aHR 1.00, 95% CI 0.68 to 1.47) and dual use (aHR 1.15, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.52) were not.Conclusions We found that smoking increased the risk of self-reported hypertension, but ENDS use did not. These results highlight the importance of using prospective longitudinal data to examine the health effects of ENDS use.Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. Data are derived from wave 1 to wave 5 (2013–2019) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, a publicly available deidentified dataset. However, this analysis used the restricted-use files to use variables such as continuous age and cigarette pack-years. These variables are not available in the public-use files. Further details on how to access the restricted-use data are described in the PATH Study Restricted Use Files User Guide. The Guide is available online (https://doi.org/10.3886/Series606.21).