PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Doescher, Mark P. AU - Wu, Ming AU - Rainwater, Elizabeth AU - Khan, Ali S. AU - Rhoades, Dorothy A. TI - Patient Perspectives on Discussions of Electronic Cigarettes in Primary Care AID - 10.3122/jabfm.2018.01.170206 DP - 2018 Jan 01 TA - The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine PG - 73--82 VI - 31 IP - 1 4099 - http://www.jabfm.org/content/31/1/73.short 4100 - http://www.jabfm.org/content/31/1/73.full SO - J Am Board Fam Med2018 Jan 01; 31 AB - Purpose: Patient preferences regarding the role of the primary care provider (PCP) in discussing electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use are unknown.Methods: We administered a cross-sectional survey to 568 adult patients in a family medicine clinic to explore e-cigarette use, sources of information on e-cigarettes, perceived knowledge about e-cigarette health effects, views regarding PCP knowledge of e-cigarettes, interest in discussing e-cigarettes with PCPs and preferred format for e-cigarette information. We performed χ2 testing with a 2-tailed P < .05 to assess associations between e-cigarette use and these measures.Results: The prevalence of e-cigarette use was 10% for recent (≤30 days) use and 29% for nonrecent (>30 days) use. Prevalence was significantly higher among those who were younger, less educated, or smoked cigarettes, but did not vary by sex or self-reported health status. Roughly one quarter of participants believed they were knowledgeable about the health effects of e-cigarettes, secondhand smoke, and quitting cigarettes. Sources of e-cigarette information included television advertisements (56.6%), friends and family (49.9%), or e-cigarette shops (25.5%), but included physician offices much less frequently (6.0%). Although 30.2% disagreed that their PCP knew a lot about e-cigarettes, 62.0% were comfortable discussing e-cigarettes with their PCP. However, only 25% of all patients wanted their PCP to discuss e-cigarettes with them, but 62.0% of recent e-cigarette users wanted such a discussion. Most preferred a brief discussion or handout to a lengthy discussion.Conclusion: PCPs were infrequent sources of information for patients regarding e-cigarette use. PCPs need evidence-based strategies to help them address e-cigarettes in primary care.