E-cigarettes most often used by current, former smokers

Current smokers, particularly those who recently attempted to quit, and former smokers who quit within the past year were most likely to use electronic cigarettes, according to recently published data.

Researchers analyzed data from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey to assess trends in e-cigarette use among adults aged 18 years and over.

Results demonstrated that 12.6% of participants had ever tried an e-cigarette. Men (14.2%), those aged 18 to 24 years (21.6%) and nonHispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (20.2%) adults were most likely to have ever tried e-cigarettes.

Every day or some days use of electronic cigarettes was seen in 3.7% of participants; However, discrepancies in use were seen by age and race, with non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native adults most likely to be current users. No difference was seen according to gender.

More than 15% of current cigarette smokers and 22% of recent former cigarette smokers reported current use of e-cigarettes.

Only 3.2% of never-smokers had ever tried an e-cigarette compared with approximately half of all current cigarette smokers and recent former cigarette smokers, according to the researchers.

Among current smokers, those who had tried to quit within the past year (20.3%) were more likely to have tried e-cigarettes compared with current smokers who did not try quitting.

“E-cigarettes have been marketed as both a smoking cessation tool and an alternative to conventional cigarette use. In light of ongoing decline in conventional cigarette smoking prevalence, it is important to understand the extent to which e-cigarettes are being used among U.S. adults, both overall and by conventional cigarette smoking status,” the researchers wrote. – by Casey Hower

Reference:

Schoenborn CA, Gindi RM. Electronic Cigarette Use Among Adults: United States, 2014. NCHS data brief, no. 217. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2015.