Characteristics of E-cigarette Use Behaviors among US Youth, 2020.
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Posted by: Natalia Gromov
Wang
TW, Gentzke AS, Neff LJ, et al.
Characteristics of
E-cigarette Use Behaviors among US Youth, 2020.
JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(6):e2111336. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.11336.
Importance.
Comprehensive surveillance of e-cigarette use behaviors among youth is
important for informing strategies to address this public health epidemic.
Objective.
To characterize e-cigarette use behaviors among US youth in 2020.
Design, Setting, and
Participants. The 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey, a
nationally representative, cross-sectional, school-based survey of middle
school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) students, was conducted from
January 16, 2020, to March 16, 2020. A total of 14 531 students from 180
schools participated in the 2020 survey, yielding a corresponding student-level
participation rate of 87.4% and school-level participation rate of 49.9%. The
overall response rate, a product of the school-level and student-level
participation rates, was 43.6%.
Exposures.
Current (past 30-day) e-cigarette use.
Main Outcomes and Measures.
Self-reported current e-cigarette use behaviors (frequency of use, usual
e-cigarette brand, and access source) by school level and flavored e-cigarette
use and flavor types among current e-cigarette users by school level and device
type. Prevalence estimates were weighted to account for the complex survey
design.
Results.
Overall, 14 531 students completed the survey, including 7330 female students
and 7133 male students with self-reported grade level and sex. In 2020, 19.6%
(95% CI, 17.2%-22.2%) of high school students and 4.7% (95% CI, 3.6%-6.0%) of
middle school students reported current e-cigarette use. Among them, 38.9% (95%
CI, 35.2%-42.6%) of high school users and 20.0% (95% CI, 16.0%-24.8%) of middle
school users reported e-cigarette use on 20 to 30 days within the past 30 days.
Among current users, JUUL was the most commonly reported usual brand (high
school: 25.4%; 95% CI, 18.8%-33.4%; middle school: 35.1%; 95% CI, 27.9%-43.1%).
Among current users, the most common source of obtaining e-cigarettes was from
a friend (high school: 57.1%; 95% CI, 52.6%-61.4%; middle school: 58.9%; 95%
CI, 51.4%-66.1%). Among current users, 84.7% (95% CI, 82.2%-86.9%) of high
school students and 73.9% (95% CI, 66.9%-79.8%) of middle school students reported
flavored e-cigarette use. Fruit-flavored e-cigarettes were the most commonly
reported flavor among current exclusive e-cigarette users of prefilled pods or
cartridges (67.3%; 95% CI, 60.9%-73.0%), disposable e-cigarettes (85.8%; 95%
CI, 79.8%-90.3%), and tank-based devices (82.7%; 95% CI, 68.9%-91.1%), followed
by mint-flavored e-cigarettes.
Conclusions and Relevance.
These results suggest that although current e-cigarette use decreased during
2019 to 2020, overall prevalence, frequent use, and flavored e-cigarette use
remained high. Continued actions are warranted to prevent and reduce
e-cigarette use among US youth.
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