Substance Use

Substance use (e.g., tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol) is prevalent among youth, and it can harm brain development, increase the risk of addiction, and cause adverse health outcomes in adulthood.

The faculty in the Department of Biostatistics has led multiple research projects funded by the NIH/NCI, NIH/NIDA, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and other organizations to i). identify social determinants and etiology of vaping, marijuana, and other substance use in youth; ii). develop and test the school-based vaping prevention program; iii). assess community-level health equity related to Tobacco 21 adoption; iv). examine the heterogeneity in biomarkers of exposure and toxicants related to e-cigarette use among African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos; v). leverage social media big data to improve public health surveillance of emerging substance use. 

Our Research:

• Dai H. Changes of Marijuana Use in Electronic Cigarettes Among U.S. Youth: 2016 to 2018. JAMA. 2019 PMID:31848567.
• Dai H, Leventhal As. Prevalence of E-cigarette Use Among Young Adults in the United States. JAMA. 2019 Sep. PMID: 31524940.
• Dai H, Richter K. A National Survey of Marijuana Use among US Adults with Medical Conditions: 2016-2017. JAMA Network Open. 2019. 2019 Sep 4;2(9):e1911936. PMID: 31539078
• Dai H. Changes in Flavored Tobacco Product Use among Current Youth Tobacco Users in the United States: 2014 - 2017. JAMA Pediatrics. 2019 Mar 1;173(3):282-284. PMID: 30615022, PMCID: 6396867.
• Leventhal A, Dai H. “Prevalence of Flavored e-Cigarette Use Among Subpopulations of Adults in the United States.” JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2021 Apr 6;113(4):418-424. PMID: 32785659.
• Dai H, Khan A. A Longitudinal Study of Exposure to Tobacco-Related Toxicants and Subsequent Respiratory Symptoms among U.S. Adults with Varying E-cigarette Use Status. Nicotine and Tobacco Research. 2020. PMID: 33320254.
• Dai H, Siahpush M. Self-Reported E-cigarette Use for Nicotine, Marijuana, and Flavoring among U.S. Youth, 2017. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. PMID: 31859171.
• Dai H, Hao Mining Social Media Data for Opinion Polarities about Electronic Cigarettes. Tobacco Control. 2017; 26:175–180. PMID:26980151.