More than 2 million US kids and teens use e-cigarettes

In 2021, an estimated 2.06 children and adolescents in the United States used e-cigarettes within the past 30 days, and 84.7% of them used flavored e-cigarettes, according to data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey.

In addition, 27.6% of high school students and 8.3% of middle school students who reported using e-cigarettes within the past 30 days said they used them daily.

The online survey was administered to 20,413 students in grades 6 to 12. Other data from the survey showed that:

• among recent e-cigarette users, 53.7% reported using disposable e-cigarettes, making them the most popular device type;
• 78.7% of the disposable e-cigarette users utilized fruit flavored devices, making it the most popular flavor; and
• 26.1% of current e-cigarette users in high school and 30.3% of current e-cigarette users in middle school said their “usual brand” was Puff Bar, making it the most popular brand.

Last year’s National Youth Tobacco Survey indicated that about 3.6 million middle school and high school students said that they used e-cigarettes within the past 30 days, and more than 80% of these users reported flavored e-cigarette use, Eunice Park-Lee, PhD, of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products and colleagues wrote in MMWR.

However, mechanisms overseeing the survey distribution were changed amid the pandemic, rendering this year’s survey results incomparable to prior surveys, the researchers wrote.

Regardless, the “data highlight the fact that flavored e-cigarettes are still extremely popular with kids,” Mitch Zeller, JD, the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a press release.

Healio Primary Care has previously reported on the CDC’s recommendations that may help curb e-cigarette use. The agency urged primary care physicians to ask patients about e-cigarettes and to keep current on e-cigarette-related jargon.

Karen Hacker, MD, MPH, the director of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, said that partnership is another component of the “quit vaping” initiative.

“It’s critical we continue working together to protect young people from the risks associated with tobacco product use, including e-cigarettes,” she said.

References:

Park-Lee E, et al. Morb Mortl Wkly Rep MMWR. 2021;70(39):1381-1389.

“Youth e-cigarette use remains serious public health concern amid COVID-19 pandemic.” Published Sept. 30, 2021. Accessed Sept. 30, 2021.