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Sarah Jackson

@drsarahejackson.bsky.social
2.9K followers 446 following 199 posts

Behavioural scientist, UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group. Smoking, vaping, and alcohol research. President of SRNT Europe. Senior Editor at Addiction.

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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Closing England’s North–South health divide: lessons from tobacco control www.bmj.com/content/394/...
bmj.com
Closing England’s North–South health divide: lessons from tobacco control
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
The UK’s Tobacco and Vapes Act puts the end of smoking within reach, but the job is not done New comment in Lancet Regional Health Europe with @hazelcheeseman.bsky.social and @jamiebrown.bsky.social www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
The UK’s Tobacco and Vapes Act puts the end of smoking within reach, but the job is not done
The UK’s Tobacco and Vapes Act marks a defining moment in tobacco control. Its smokefree generation policy—prohibiting the sale of all tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009—repres...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Call for participants - chance to win a £50 shopping voucher! UCL MSc Health Psychology students are looking for people aged 16+ living in the UK to complete an online survey about nicotine products. You don't have to use nicotine to take part. Survey link ⬇️ redcap.idhs.ucl.ac.uk/surveys/?s=E...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
In a commentary published today in Nature Human Behavior, we argue that regulating vaping needs pragmatic, evidence-based policy. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
To regulate vaping we need pragmatic, evidence-based policy - Nature Human Behaviour
Vaping regulation is a global challenge. We discuss evidence on health risks, smoking impacts and policy goals, and advocate for pragmatic, proportionate regulation that reduces smoking harms while mi...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
New paper suggests the UK disposable vape ban may have unintentionally made vaping more affordable for young people. The ban prompted vape manufacturers to introduce disposable-like reusable vapes with lower ongoing costs than disposable equivalents. tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/earl...
tobaccocontrol.bmj.com
Changes in expenditure on vaping in the context of the rise of disposable vapes and impending regulatory changes: a population study in Great Britain, 2021–2025
Background The vaping market in Great Britain has shifted rapidly since 2021, driven by the rise of disposable vapes, regulatory announcements, changing consumer behaviours and market responses. This ...
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Reposted by Sarah Jackson
Scienceline @scienceline.org · 22/02/2026
In her latest, Georgia Michelman talked to scientists and tobacco harm reduction advocates about the two sides of #vaping, and whether anti-vaping campaigns have gone too far, failing current smokers. Read more on Scienceline at buff.ly/2XkqiE5
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Interesting substack by Bella Mackie on anxiety and giving up vaping bellamackie.substack.com/p/giving-up-...
bellamackie.substack.com
Giving up vaping is really embarrassing
It’s funny, how self-aware a person can be whilst all the time honing a narrative which blinds them to reality and also continuing a behaviour they know hurts them greatly.
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Reposted by Sarah Jackson
Addiction journal @addictionjournal.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
The changing face of nicotine use in England: Age-specific annual trends, 2014 to 2024 buff.ly/5dsMlAa @drsarahejackson.bsky.social @lionshahab.bsky.social @tattanbirch.bsky.social @sharoncox.bsky.social @jamiebrown.bsky.social
buff.ly
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UCL News @uclnews.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
About 1.6 million adults in England, Wales and Scotland used drugs such as Mounjaro to help lose weight between early 2024 and early 2025, with another 3.3 million interested in doing so in the near future, finds a new study led by @drsarahejackson.bsky.social @ucliehc.bsky.social
ucl.ac.uk
1.6 million UK adults used weight loss drugs in past year
An estimated 1.6 million adults in England, Wales and Scotland used drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro to help lose weight between early 2024 and early 2025, according to a new study by UCL researchers...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Our new paper suggests that approximately 1.6 million adults in Great Britain have recently used weight loss jabs (most commonly Mounjaro) and a further 3.3 million are interested in doing so in the near future. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
A declining proportion of adults who vape also currently smoke. This is mostly offset by: - In 18-24s: an increase in the % who have never regularly smoked, suggesting initiation of nicotine use with vaping. - In >25s: increases in ex-smokers, suggesting continued use after quitting with a vape.
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Among young adults who smoke, the proportion smoking cigarettes daily has fallen considerably, offset mostly by an increase in non-daily cigarette smoking. Fewer than half of 18-24yos who smoke now smoke cigarettes every day. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Among young adults who smoke or vape, there has been a sharp decline in exclusive smoking and increases in exclusive vaping and dual use. Similar, smaller, changes have also occurred in older age groups. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Nicotine use among 18-24 year olds in England is rising, despite declines in smoking. Largely due to rapid increases in vaping prevalence. Vaping is now more common than smoking in 18-24s and similar in 25-34s. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
New paper shows nicotine use is rising among young adults in England, but they are increasingly moving away from daily cigarette smoking towards vaping or non-daily smoking. Traditional daily smoking patterns remain more prevalent among older adults. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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Reposted by Sarah Jackson
Robert West @robertjwest.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
You may be interested in this preprint that Sarah Jackson, Linda Ng Fat and I have just published on improved mental wellbeing following health-behaviour changes. If you have any comments or suggestions please let us know. www.qeios.com/read/NY0ZS1
qeios.com
Benefits to Mental Wellbeing from Making Positive Changes in Health-Related Behaviours: An Ultra-Rapid Review
BACKGROUND AND AIMS. Changes in health-related behaviours that have a longer-term impact on physical health have also been found in many studies to lead to relatively rapid improvements in mental well...
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Colin Angus @victimofmaths.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
We've got a new paper out in @addictionjournal.bsky.social led by @drsarahejackson.bsky.social looking at trends in cost as a motivating factor for people looking to reduce their alcohol consumption. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
In a letter published today in the BMJ, we call for urgent action to correct misperceptions of vaping. As long as public perceptions of vaping are misaligned with evidence, the opportunity for vaping to further reduce smoking is being missed. www.bmj.com/content/391/... @ashorguk.bsky.social
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
SRNT Europe's 2025 conference kicks off two weeks today and I'm delighted to be presenting alongside most of my colleagues from UCL's Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group. You can catch us across the three days at the following times. Hope to see lots of you there! #SRNTE2025
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Reposted by Sarah Jackson
Addiction journal @addictionjournal.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Associations between non-daily smoking and motivation to stop smoking: A population study in England 2021–2024 buff.ly/GigcYWP @drsarahejackson.bsky.social @jamiebrown.bsky.social @lionshahab.bsky.social @sharoncox.bsky.social
buff.ly
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
New in @addictionjournal.bsky.social , we find adults who smoke cigarettes non-daily tend to be more motivated to quit smoking than those who smoke every day, especially among older and less advantaged people. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Associations between non‐daily smoking and motivation to stop smoking: A population study in England 2021–2024
Background and aims An increasing proportion of adults in England who smoke cigarettes do not smoke every day and may see quitting smoking as less important than those who smoke daily. This study ai...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
The SRNT-E 2025 conference programme is now online! 🎉 See what we've got lined up here: srnt-e.org/conference/2... Looking forward to seeing many of you in Romania!
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
The UK Government uses the Annual Population Survey (APS) as its official smoking estimate. APS only captures cigarette smoking and may miss some non-daily use. Our findings suggest that relying solely on APS data could overstate reductions in smoking.
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
The Smoking Toolkit Study shows substantial declines in smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption among adults in England since 2007. However, the extent of these changes differs according to how the outcomes are defined. Research letter - Tobacco Control tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/earl...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Although smoking prevalence is now similar across regions of GB, there is variation in cigarette consumption among adults who smoke. Mean cigarettes smoked/day and % smoking >20/day: 🟡Highest in North East and Scotland 🟡Lowest in London and South West academic.oup.com/ntr/advance-...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Our new paper provides up-to-date evidence on cigarette consumption across Great Britain. 🟡~28.6 billion cigarettes are smoked each year. 🟡There are persistent disparities across socioeconomic groups, regions, and nations. academic.oup.com/ntr/advance-... @ntrjournal.bsky.social
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Enjoying listening to this on my commute… and adding ‘profsplaining’ to my vocabulary! open.spotify.com/episode/5L7P... @robertjwest.bsky.social
open.spotify.com
Unlocking Behaviour Change Podcast Episode 2: So ... what is a decision?
Unlocking Behaviour Change · Episode
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Addiction journal @addictionjournal.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Changing patterns of nicotine product use and nicotine dependence among United States high-school students: The National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2014–2023 buff.ly/XL93VOm @drsarahejackson.bsky.social @jamiebrown.bsky.social @tattanbirch.bsky.social
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Worth a read. We need to move beyond arbitrary categorisation of continuous variables or assuming that associations are linear - and use more flexible modelling approaches to capture non-linear relationships. www.bmj.com/content/390/...
bmj.com
Dealing with continuous variables and modelling non-linear associations in healthcare data: practical guide
Proper handling of continuous variables is crucial in healthcare research, for example, within regression modelling for descriptive, explanatory, or predictive purposes. However, inadequate methods ar...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
New commentary with @hazelcheeseman.bsky.social, @jamiebrown.bsky.social, and @katieeast.bsky.social To reduce smoking harms, there is an urgent need to correct misperceptions about the risks of vaping. www.bmj.com/content/388/...
bmj.com
To reduce smoking harms, there is an urgent need to correct misperceptions about the risks of vaping
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Likewise, the spike in e-cig use did not lead to a sustained increase in the population burden of nicotine dependence, which is now at a historically low level. However, dependence symptoms increased over time among those only using e-cigs. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Our results show no evidence of a gateway effect from vaping to smoking at the population level: despite a sharp rise in e-cigarette use in 2019, use of cigarettes and other combustible tobacco products continued to fall and in 2023 were lower than ever. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
While dependence symptoms were consistently highest among cigarette users, they were increasingly prevalent among those using only e-cigarettes after 2017. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
The overall burden of nicotine dependence was substantially lower, but showed a similar pattern, with a peak in 2019 and a notable reduction by 2023. Even when we re-estimated dependence to account for potential underreporting by students using e-cigs only. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Our new analysis, using NYTS data up to 2023, shows the proportion of high-school students using any nicotine product in the past 30 days peaked at 31.4% in 2019 and has since fallen steeply to a record low of 12.5% in 2023. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
This raises questions as to what has happened to the population burden of nicotine dependence among young people, in the context of decreased prevalence of vaping, but potentially increased dependence among those who vape.
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Since 2019, the vaping landscape has changed. Vaping prevalence among young people has fallen substantially. But newer products using nicotine salts e-liquids deliver nicotine more efficiently, potentially leading to increased dependence among the remaining pool of vapers.
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
In a previous study that analysed NYTS data up to 2019, we found increases in vaping among US high-school students did not appear to have been accompanied by a similar increase in the population burden of nicotine dependence. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Dependence on nicotine in US high school students in the context of changing patterns of tobacco product use
Background and Aim There have been substantial recent changes in youth tobacco product use in the United States—including, notably, a rapid increase in use of e-cigarettes. It is not known whether, ...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Concerns have been raised that vaping has created a 'new generation of nicotine addicts'. We examined changes in the proportion of US high-school students reporting symptoms of nicotine dependence, in the context of changing patterns of nicotine product use. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Changing patterns of nicotine product use and nicotine dependence among United States high‐school students: The National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2014–2023
Background and aim Concerns have been raised that e-cigarettes have created a new generation of people addicted to nicotine. This study aimed to measure changes in the proportion of US high-school s...
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Reposted by Sarah Jackson
Nicotine & Tobacco Research Journal @ntrjournal.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
“Dual Use” of e-cigarettes alongside cigarettes encompasses varied behavior patterns and motives that have different implications for health and smoking cessation. Editorial by Sarah Jackson. academic.oup.com/ntr/advance-... @drsarahejackson.bsky.social
academic.oup.com
“Dual Use” of e-cigarettes alongside cigarettes encompasses varied behavior patterns and motives that have different implications for health and smoking cessation
Sarah E Jackson; “Dual Use” of e-cigarettes alongside cigarettes encompasses varied behavior patterns and motives that have different implications for heal
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Vapers emphasised the need to balance policy interventions that make e-cigarettes less appealing to young people but do not deter people from using them as an alternative to smoking.
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Policies that target the packaging, appearance, and marketing of e-cigarettes appear much more popular among vapers than those targeting price or the types of devices and flavours that can be sold.
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Our new paper examines level of support for proposed vaping policies via an online survey of UK vapers age 16+. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @jamiebrown.bsky.social @lionshahab.bsky.social @ucl-targ.bsky.social @sharoncox.bsky.social
sciencedirect.com
Level of support for proposed vaping policies: an online survey of UK vapers, 2024
The UK government has proposed a range of policies to reduce youth vaping. This study aimed to understand levels of support for the various policies a…
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
I believe so
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Interested in smoking and vaping? I will be giving a UCL Lunch Hour Lecture covering lots of our recent research findings in this area. The lecture will take place online on 29 May, 1-2pm. It’s free and all are welcome to attend. You can register here: www.ucl.ac.uk/events/event...
ucl.ac.uk
Lunch Hour Lecture | Recent trends in smoking and vaping in England
The talk will include an overview of changes in the prevalence and patterns of smoking and vaping...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
I can’t comment on what other countries have/haven’t done, but in the UK we’ve had progressive tobacco control policies implemented over this period, which are likely to have driven much of this decline. See ASH’s summary timeline of key policies here: ash.org.uk/uploads/Key-...
ash.org.uk
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
New in @addictionjournal.bsky.social - may be of interest to @ucl-targ.bsky.social colleagues onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Questionable generalizability of Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test‐Consumption scoring warrants caution when used for outcome monitoring: Evidence from simulated and real‐world trial data
Background and Aims The “Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption” (AUDIT-C), designed for primary-care screening, is frequently repurposed for outcome monitoring in brief interventio...
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Reposted by Sarah Jackson
Nicotine & Tobacco Research Journal @ntrjournal.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Four cigarette products for sale in England in 2021/22 appeared non-compliant with the ban on menthol as a characterising flavour in sensory and chemical tests, find Debbie Robson et al. academic.oup.com/ntr/advance-...
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
I spoke to BBC Radio 4's Today programme about our findings. You can listen back here (from 1.23.29): www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
Today - 16/04/2025 - BBC Sounds
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
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Sarah Jackson @drsarahejackson.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
We will continue to monitor trends in smoking and vaping to allow policy decisions to be informed by up-to-date evidence 💻📉
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