Racial and ethnic disparities in biomarkers of exposure and potential harm among U.S. adult exclusive e-cigarette users: 2013–2019

Provide evidence on racial and ethnic differences in biomarkers of exposure from rising e-cigarette use among U.S. adults. Data were drawn from Waves 1–5 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study (September 2013-November 2019). Differences in biomarkers of exposure and potential harm (BOE/BoPH) across non-Hispanic (NH)-Whites, NH Blacks, Hispanic/Latinos, and NH others were examined using generalized estimation equations. Among exclusive e-cigarette users, mean concentrations of BOEs/BoPHs were not significantly different across NH Blacks (n=97), NH others (n=122), and NH Whites (n=1062), after adjustment by wave, age, sex, education, exposure to the secondhand smoke, and the number of recent puffs. Compared to NH Whites, Hispanics (n=151) had lower concentrations of nicotine equivalents (0.5[0.2–1.7] vs. 15.5 [12.5–19.1] nmol/mg creatinine, p