E-cigarette Use Rises, Teen Smoking Declines in US

As the use of e-cigarettes increases, American adolescents are smoking traditional cigarettes less.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham analyzed nationwide youth tobacco survey data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 1999 and 2020, finding that smoking rates among American adolescents have continuously declined, while the number of those consuming electronic cigarettes has increased.

A research team has discovered that although the use of electronic cigarettes has dramatically increased since 2014, and is the most commonly used nicotine or tobacco product among high school students, it has led to a significant decrease in the use of more harmful combustible tobacco products.

They also found that the binary measure used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to measure tobacco product use, which asks if someone has used any tobacco product in the past 30 days, fails to distinguish the risk of using nicotine products. "Most cigarette brands contain similar ingredients, concentrations, and chemicals," said Dr. Ruoyan Sun, Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy at UAB School of Public Health and researcher.

On the contrary, there is a wide variety of electronic cigarette products with varying chemical compositions. To more accurately track usage patterns and associated risks of nicotine and tobacco, investigations must take into account usage frequency and specific product risks.