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Youth tobacco use remains unchanged since 2011

Tobacco use among middle school and high school students has not changed since 2011 due to a substantial increase in use of alternative tobacco products, according to a recent study published in MMWR.

“E-cigarettes are now the most commonly used tobacco product among youth, and continues to climb,” CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, said in a press release. “No form of youth tobacco is safe. Nicotine is an addictive drug and use during adolescence may cause lasting harm to brain development.”

Researchers from the CDC and FDA generated a nationally representative sample of U.S. middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) students from the 2011-2015 National Youth Tobacco Surveys and to analyze trends in current tobacco use, including cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, electronic cigarettes, hookahs, pipe tobacco and bidis. Current tobacco use was defined as use on at least 1 day during the past 30 days. Results were adjusted for race/ethnicity, sex and grade.

In 2015, an estimated 4.7 million middle school and high school students reported current use of any tobacco product. Of these, 2.3 million reported using more than one.

Among high school students, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product for the second consecutive year (16%), followed by cigarettes (9.3%), cigars (8.6%), hookahs (7.2%), smokeless tobacco (6%), pipe tobacco (1%) and bidis (0.6%). Current use of tobacco products did not change significantly from 2011 to 2015 (24.2% to 25.3%)

Among middle school students, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used (5.3%), followed by cigarettes (2.3%), hookahs (2%), smokeless tobacco (1.8%), cigars (1.6%), pipe tobacco (0.4%) and bidis (0.2%).

Males reported higher use of any tobacco products than females in both high school and middle school students.

E-cigarette use was most common in non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics, cigars were most common in non-Hispanic blacks, and smokeless tobacco was highest among non-Hispanic whites than any other race in high school students. Hispanics had the highest use of any tobacco product in middle school students compared with those of other races/ethnicities.

“The FDA remains deeply concerned about the overall high rate at which children and adolescents use tobacco products, including novel products such as e-cigarettes and hookah,” Mitch Zeller, JD, director of the FDA’s center for Tobacco Products, said in the release. “Finalizing the rule to bring additional products under the agency’s tobacco authority is one of our highest priorities, and we look forward to a day in the near future when such products are properly regulated and responsibly marketed.”- by Taylor Groff

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.