Around 15% of middle and high school students use tobacco products
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In 2020, 23.6% of high school students and 6.7% of middle school students reported using any tobacco product, although the number of users declined by 1.73 million from 2019 to about 4.45 million, according to data published in MMWR.
“Youth use of tobacco products — in any form — is unsafe,” Andrea S. Gentzke, PhD, a health scientist in the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, told Healio. “All tobacco products contain nicotine, which is highly addictive, can harm the developing adolescent brain and can prime the brain for addiction to other drugs.”
Data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey showed that in 2020, 3.65 million high school students reported using tobacco products, according to Gentzke and colleagues. This included 1.45 million who reported any type of combustible tobacco use and 1.27 million who reported using two or more tobacco product types.
E-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among high school students at 19.6%, followed by cigars (5%), cigarettes (4.6%), smokeless tobacco (3.1%), hookahs (2.7%) and pipe tobacco (0.7%).
“Since nearly all tobacco use begins during youth and young adulthood, efforts to address tobacco use among these populations can help prevent another generation of adults affected by the harms of tobacco product use,” Gentzke said.
According to the report, 800,000 middle school students reported current use of a tobacco product. This included 400,000 who reported using combustible tobacco products and 340,000 who used multiple types of tobacco products.
Again, the most commonly used tobacco product was e-cigarettes, with 4.7% students reporting use. This was followed by cigarettes (1.6%) cigars (1.5%), hookahs (1.3%), heated tobacco products (1.3%), smokeless tobacco (1.2%) and pipe tobacco (0.2%).
The authors reported that, in the last year, e-cigarette use has declined from 27.5% to 19.6% among high school students.
“The decline in overall tobacco product use, particularly for e-cigarettes, that occurred within the past year is the result of multiple factors,” Gentzke said. “For example, in December 2019, the federal minimum age of sale of all tobacco product types increased from 18 to 21 years. Under the authority of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, FDA issued guidance in January 2020 to prioritize enforcement against certain flavored e-cigarette products that appeal to youths, including mint and fruit flavors.”