Reduced nicotine content cigarettes in smokers of low socioeconomic status: study protocol for a randomized control trial

Table 2 Nicotine content dosing schedule

Phase	Baseline Phase I	Baseline Phase II	Randomized Double-Blind Phase					Treatment Choice Phase
Week(s)	1	2	3	3	3	3	6	12
RNC cigarette group	Own brand	Usual nicotine research cigarettes	Reduced nicotine step 1	Reduced nicotine step 2	Reduced nicotine step 3	Reduced nicotine step 4	Reduced nicotine step 5	Variable
UNC cigarette group	Own brand	Usual nicotine research cigarettes	Usual nicotine research cigarettes	Usual nicotine research cigarettes	Usual nicotine research cigarettes	Usual nicotine research cigarettes	Usual nicotine research cigarettes	Variable
Approximate nicotine content in mg/cigarette (mg/gram) ^a
RNC cigarette group	13^b (19)	11.6 (16.5)	7.4 (10.6)	3.3 (4.7)	1.4 (1.9)	0.7 (0.9)	0.2 (0.3)	Variable
UNC cigarette group	13^b (19)	11.6 (16.5)	11.6 (16.5)	11.6 (16.5)	11.6 (16.5)	11.6 (16.5)	11.6 (16.5)	Variable

Abbreviations: RNC reduced nicotine content, UNC usual nicotine content
SPECTRUM Tobacco Product Master File Codes used for RNC group (non-menthol/menthol) are NRC600/NRC601 or NRC602, NRC500/NRC501, NRC400/NRC401, NRC300/NRC301, NRC200/NRC201, and NRC102/NRC103. SPECTRUM Tobacco Product Master File Codes used for UNC group (non-menthol/menthol) are NRC600/NRC601 or NRC602
^aThese are averages of menthol/non-menthol cigarettes at each level based on estimated 0.7 g tobacco content per cigarette and nicotine concentrations based on Richter et al. (2016) [54]
^bApproximate mean nicotine content and concentration of commercially available cigarettes based on Connolly et al. (2007) [62]

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