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Tobacco use on the rise among middle, high school students

Use of tobacco products has increased among middle school and high school students, according to an analysis published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

In addition, many students report using more than one tobacco product within the previous 30 days, results showed.

“Use of tobacco in any form by youths is unsafe. Therefore, the increased use of emerging tobacco products — such as e-cigarettes and hookahs — and the use of multiple types of tobacco products is a public health concern,” Linda J. Neff, PhD, of the Office on Smoking and Health and National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the CDC, and colleagues wrote. “Greater understanding of the types of tobacco products and patterns of use of these products among youths is important for ensuring that proven tobacco prevention and control strategies — including increasing tobacco product prices, adopting comprehensive smoke-free laws, and implementing public education media campaigns — address the diverse types of tobacco products used by youth.”

Neff and colleagues analyzed the 30-day smoking habits of middle school and high school students using the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey, according to the abstract. They found that, among all students surveyed, 42% of students used smokeless tobacco, 31.6% smoked cigarettes and 13.1% smoked cigars for 20 days or more in a 30-day period. Neff and colleagues noted that these patterns of tobacco product use also persisted for students who used these products one or more times a day. Specifically, middle school students used smokeless tobacco in 29.2% of cases, cigarettes in 20% of cases, cigars in 13.2% of cases and e-cigarettes in 11.8% of cases.

Use of more than one tobacco product was common, as 77.3% of cigar smokers, 76.9% of cigarette smokers, 63.4% of smokeless tobacco users and 54.8% of e-cigarette users reported using more than one tobacco product. The researchers noted this pattern of multiple tobacco product use was also consistent among students who used tobacco products 1 day to 5 days during the previous 30-day period, according to the abstract. – by Jeff Craven

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.