Page 11 - RADC Bulletin 2019

Vape Tank Duration (days)
Pre Post
7+
30 25
20 15 10
5 0
<1 2 to 3
4 to 6
<20 M
<20 F
20- 30 M
20- 30 F
30- 40 M
30- 40 F
40- 50 M
40- 50 F
50+ M
50+ F
OFFR
0
0
26
5
22
4
22
0
8
0
WO
0
0
0
0
8
0
2
0
0
0
SNCO
0
0
5
1
30
4
6
1
2
0
NCO
1
0
95
18
40
5
3
0
0
0
PTE
11
3
105
10
15
0
1
0
0
0
Participant age and gender
M F
50<
300 250
200 150 100
50 0
<20 20-30 30-40 40-50
Volume of cigarettes smoked per day
140 120 100
80 60 40 20
0
<1 2 to 5
6 to 9
Pre Post
10 to 19 20+
Pre and post exercise smoking status
350 300 250 200 150 100
50 0
Never
Smoker
Vaper
Pre Post
Both Ex Undisclosed
represents 10% of the total personnel taking part in Ex SAIF SAREEA 3, and 20% of the LAND component. Questionnaires were completed by all ranks ranging from Private soldier to Officer. Table 1 and
figure 1 demonstrate the demographic of participants. Of the 560 responses, 19.1% did not give complete information relating to rank, gender and age. 74.6% of participants were Private soldiers or Non-Commissioned Officers and 2.1% did not say. 79.1% of participants were between the ages of 20 and 40, with 7.9% not disclosing their age. Males made up 73.9% of all surveyed, with 14.8% not disclosing their gender.
cigarettes at the start of the exercise. By
the end of the exercise, smoking prevalence had risen to 35.4%, an increase of 5.2% of the population. Those not disclosing their smoking status also rose from 1.1% to 4.6%. A large reduction in those vaping was also seen with the number reducing by 59%. This data is represented in figure 2.
When analysing the volume individuals smoked at the start and end of the exercise there was a general upward trend, as seen in figure 3. Prevalence of individuals smoking between one and 19 cigarettes per day
all decreased with a combined reduction
of 31.3% in this bracket. Those smoking
Figure 4: Vape tank duration, before and after the end of SS3
thought it illegal, 7.5% legal and 1.8% were unsure.
Ascertaining the reason for changes
in smoking and vaping habits was also addressed. 25.4% of smokers had the intention of quitting while on deployment. Personnel who reduced their consumption did so for a number of reasons. Of the 88 responses; 56.8% did so out of choice, 22.7% due to lack of supply, 9.1%
due to medical reasons and 11.3% for other reasons. Those reasons included stress, heat, mood levels and the ban on e-cigarettes.
169 individuals whose smoking and/or vaping habits increased gave responses
as to why, displayed in figure 5. The most prevalent causative factor was boredom, accounting for 50.3%. 21.9% did so out of choice, and in contrast 2.4% either started or increased due to peer pressure. 15.4% or respondents cited the ban on e-cigarettes as the primary factor, totalling 26 individuals. 16.6% gave other reasons for the increase. Stress was the most highly reported, in 19 individuals. Cheap cigarettes and the ban on e-cigarettes were cited five and four times respectively. This data is shown graphically at Figure 5.
When questioned on the demand for smoking cessation services while being deployed, 72 respondents indicated they would have used such services. 176 declared they would not.
Discussion
From the demographics, it is clear to see a heavy representation of males to females and those in the 20-30 age bracket. This is potentially not a weakness of the sample as this is likely to be a fair representation
of the British Armed Forces. Having a larger sample size would have given more credibility to the study, however given
the dynamic nature of an exercise 10%
is a realistic expectation. It is hard to determine whether an element of selection and self-selection bias is present in the data collected. One example to mitigate this was having individuals throughout
the rank hierarchy approaching potential participants to fill out the form, as to ensure
Table 1: Demographic of study participants for smoking survey on SS3
Figure 1: Demographic of study participants for smoking survey on SS3
Before deployment 52.1% of the cohort reported having never smoked before
and 10.4% deemed themselves to be ex-smokers. During the course of the exercise non-smokers reduced by 6.6% and 24% of ex smokers had started the habit back up. In total, 30.2% of individuals smoked tobacco and 6.3% used electronic
Figure 3: Volume of cigarettes smoked per day, before and after the end of SS3
more than 20 cigarettes per day increased nearly three-fold, increasing from 43 to 116 individuals, a percentage increase of 269.8%. Individuals reporting not smoking at all also decreased by 8.5% during the exercise. This data is shown at Figure 3
In relation to vaping, a downward
trend can be seen in their volume of use, demonstrated in figure 4. At the start of the exercise 10.9% of individuals reported using e-cigarettes to vary degrees. This number dropped to 4.5% at the end of the exercise. There was a significant decrease of users across the spectrum. At the start, 26% of vapers were using a full tank of liquid in a day or less. This dropped by 69.2%. And in light users, taking a week or more to vape a tank, the number dropped by 61.5%. This is shown in Figure 4.
The survey revealed that many individuals were potentially poorly informed about the legality of using vaping and e-cigarette products while in Oman. Of the 560 responses; 58.8% gave no response, 32%
Figure 2: A comparator of smoking status before and after the end of SS3
RADC BULLETIN 2019 9