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A significant increase during 2017-2018 in e-cigarette use among U.S. youths has erased recent progress in reducing overall tobacco product use in this age group, a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found.
E-cigarettes are driving the trend. About 4 million high school students in the United States reported using any tobacco product in the last 30 days, and 3 million of them reported using e-cigarettes, according to a Vital Signs document published by the CDC on Feb. 11 in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.*
In addition, many high school students who use e-cigarettes use them often; 28% reported using the products at least 20 times in the past 28 days, up from 20% in 2017.
“Any use of any tobacco product is unsafe for teens,” Anne Schuchat, MD, principal deputy director of the CDC, said in a teleconference to present the findings. Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm brain development in youth, including capacity for learning, memory, and attention, she said.
The rise in e-cigarette use corresponds with the rise in marketing and availability of e-cigarette devices such as JUUL, which dispense nicotine via liquid refill pods available in flavors including strawberry and cotton candy, said Brian King, MPH, PhD, deputy director for research translation at the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.
“The advertising will lead a horse to water, the flavors will make them drink, and the nicotine will keep them coming back for more,” said Dr. King.
Approximately 27.1% of high school students and 7.2% of middle school students used a tobacco product in 2018, a significant increase from 2017 data, and with a major increase in e-cigarette use.
No change was noted in the use of other tobacco products, including cigarettes, from 2017 to 2018, according to the report. However, conventional cigarettes remained the most common companion product to e-cigarettes for youth who use two or more tobacco products (two in five high school students and one in three middle school students in 2018). From a demographic standpoint, e-cigarette use was highest among males, whites, and high school students.
Tobacco use in teens is trending in the direction of wiping out the progress made in recent years to reduce exposure to youths. The report noted, “The prevalence of e-cigarette use by U.S. high school students had peaked in 2015 before declining by 29% during 2015-2016 (from 16% to 11.3%); this decline was the first ever recorded for e-cigarette use among youths in the NYTS since monitoring began, and it was subsequently sustained during 2016-2017). However, current e-cigarette use increased by 77.8% among high school students and 48.5% among middle school students during 2017-2018, erasing the progress in reducing e-cigarette use, as well as any tobacco product use, that had occurred in prior years.”
The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration are taking action to curb the rise in e-cigarette use in youth in particular by seeking regulations to make the products less accessible, raising prices, and banning most flavorings, said Dr. Schuchat.
“We have targeted companies engaged in kid friendly marketing,” said Mitch Zeller, JD, director of the Center for Tobacco Products for the FDA.
In a statement published simultaneously with the Vital Signs study, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, emphasized the link between e-cigarette use in teens and the potential for future tobacco use. “The kids using e-cigarettes are children who rejected conventional cigarettes, but don’t see the same stigma associated with the use of e-cigarettes. But now, having become exposed to nicotine through e-cigs, they will be more likely to smoke.” Dr. Gottlieb declared, “I will not allow a generation of children to become addicted to nicotine through e-cigarettes. We must stop the trends of youth e-cigarette use from continuing to build and will take whatever action is necessary to ensure these kids don’t become future smokers.” He reviewed steps taken in the past year by the FDA to counter tobacco use in teens but he warned of future actions that may need to be taken: “If these youth use trends continue, we’ll be forced to consider regulatory steps that could constrain or even foreclose the opportunities for currently addicted adult smokers to have the same level of access to these products that they now enjoy. I recognize that such a move could come with significant impacts to adult smokers.”
In the meantime, however, parents, teachers, community leaders, and health care providers are on the front lines and can make a difference in protecting youth and curbing nicotine use, Dr. King said.
One of the most important things clinicians can do is to ask young patients specifically about e-cigarette use, he emphasized. Learn and use the terminology the kids are using; ask, “Do you use JUUL?” If they are using these products, “make sure they know they are dangerous,” and can harm the developing brain, he said.
Although there are no currently approved medications to treat nicotine addiction in youth, research suggests that behavioral counseling, as well as reinforcement of the danger of nicotine from parents and other people of influence, can help, Dr. King said.
The Vital Signs report is based on data from the 2011-2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which assesses current use of cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, e-cigarettes, hookahs, pipe tobacco, and bidis among a nationally representative sample of middle and high school students in the United States. The findings were analyzed by the CDC, FDA, and the National Cancer Institute.
SOURCE: Gentzke AS et al. MMWR 2019 Feb 11. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6806e1.
*Correction 2/13/2019 An earlier version of this article misstated the number of students using e-cigarettes as a proportion of all teen tobacco users.
A significant increase during 2017-2018 in e-cigarette use among U.S. youths has erased recent progress in reducing overall tobacco product use in this age group, a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found.
E-cigarettes are driving the trend. About 4 million high school students in the United States reported using any tobacco product in the last 30 days, and 3 million of them reported using e-cigarettes, according to a Vital Signs document published by the CDC on Feb. 11 in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.*
In addition, many high school students who use e-cigarettes use them often; 28% reported using the products at least 20 times in the past 28 days, up from 20% in 2017.
“Any use of any tobacco product is unsafe for teens,” Anne Schuchat, MD, principal deputy director of the CDC, said in a teleconference to present the findings. Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm brain development in youth, including capacity for learning, memory, and attention, she said.
The rise in e-cigarette use corresponds with the rise in marketing and availability of e-cigarette devices such as JUUL, which dispense nicotine via liquid refill pods available in flavors including strawberry and cotton candy, said Brian King, MPH, PhD, deputy director for research translation at the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.
“The advertising will lead a horse to water, the flavors will make them drink, and the nicotine will keep them coming back for more,” said Dr. King.
Approximately 27.1% of high school students and 7.2% of middle school students used a tobacco product in 2018, a significant increase from 2017 data, and with a major increase in e-cigarette use.
No change was noted in the use of other tobacco products, including cigarettes, from 2017 to 2018, according to the report. However, conventional cigarettes remained the most common companion product to e-cigarettes for youth who use two or more tobacco products (two in five high school students and one in three middle school students in 2018). From a demographic standpoint, e-cigarette use was highest among males, whites, and high school students.
Tobacco use in teens is trending in the direction of wiping out the progress made in recent years to reduce exposure to youths. The report noted, “The prevalence of e-cigarette use by U.S. high school students had peaked in 2015 before declining by 29% during 2015-2016 (from 16% to 11.3%); this decline was the first ever recorded for e-cigarette use among youths in the NYTS since monitoring began, and it was subsequently sustained during 2016-2017). However, current e-cigarette use increased by 77.8% among high school students and 48.5% among middle school students during 2017-2018, erasing the progress in reducing e-cigarette use, as well as any tobacco product use, that had occurred in prior years.”
The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration are taking action to curb the rise in e-cigarette use in youth in particular by seeking regulations to make the products less accessible, raising prices, and banning most flavorings, said Dr. Schuchat.
“We have targeted companies engaged in kid friendly marketing,” said Mitch Zeller, JD, director of the Center for Tobacco Products for the FDA.
In a statement published simultaneously with the Vital Signs study, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, emphasized the link between e-cigarette use in teens and the potential for future tobacco use. “The kids using e-cigarettes are children who rejected conventional cigarettes, but don’t see the same stigma associated with the use of e-cigarettes. But now, having become exposed to nicotine through e-cigs, they will be more likely to smoke.” Dr. Gottlieb declared, “I will not allow a generation of children to become addicted to nicotine through e-cigarettes. We must stop the trends of youth e-cigarette use from continuing to build and will take whatever action is necessary to ensure these kids don’t become future smokers.” He reviewed steps taken in the past year by the FDA to counter tobacco use in teens but he warned of future actions that may need to be taken: “If these youth use trends continue, we’ll be forced to consider regulatory steps that could constrain or even foreclose the opportunities for currently addicted adult smokers to have the same level of access to these products that they now enjoy. I recognize that such a move could come with significant impacts to adult smokers.”
In the meantime, however, parents, teachers, community leaders, and health care providers are on the front lines and can make a difference in protecting youth and curbing nicotine use, Dr. King said.
One of the most important things clinicians can do is to ask young patients specifically about e-cigarette use, he emphasized. Learn and use the terminology the kids are using; ask, “Do you use JUUL?” If they are using these products, “make sure they know they are dangerous,” and can harm the developing brain, he said.
Although there are no currently approved medications to treat nicotine addiction in youth, research suggests that behavioral counseling, as well as reinforcement of the danger of nicotine from parents and other people of influence, can help, Dr. King said.
The Vital Signs report is based on data from the 2011-2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which assesses current use of cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, e-cigarettes, hookahs, pipe tobacco, and bidis among a nationally representative sample of middle and high school students in the United States. The findings were analyzed by the CDC, FDA, and the National Cancer Institute.
SOURCE: Gentzke AS et al. MMWR 2019 Feb 11. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6806e1.
*Correction 2/13/2019 An earlier version of this article misstated the number of students using e-cigarettes as a proportion of all teen tobacco users.
A significant increase during 2017-2018 in e-cigarette use among U.S. youths has erased recent progress in reducing overall tobacco product use in this age group, a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found.
E-cigarettes are driving the trend. About 4 million high school students in the United States reported using any tobacco product in the last 30 days, and 3 million of them reported using e-cigarettes, according to a Vital Signs document published by the CDC on Feb. 11 in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.*
In addition, many high school students who use e-cigarettes use them often; 28% reported using the products at least 20 times in the past 28 days, up from 20% in 2017.
“Any use of any tobacco product is unsafe for teens,” Anne Schuchat, MD, principal deputy director of the CDC, said in a teleconference to present the findings. Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm brain development in youth, including capacity for learning, memory, and attention, she said.
The rise in e-cigarette use corresponds with the rise in marketing and availability of e-cigarette devices such as JUUL, which dispense nicotine via liquid refill pods available in flavors including strawberry and cotton candy, said Brian King, MPH, PhD, deputy director for research translation at the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.
“The advertising will lead a horse to water, the flavors will make them drink, and the nicotine will keep them coming back for more,” said Dr. King.
Approximately 27.1% of high school students and 7.2% of middle school students used a tobacco product in 2018, a significant increase from 2017 data, and with a major increase in e-cigarette use.
No change was noted in the use of other tobacco products, including cigarettes, from 2017 to 2018, according to the report. However, conventional cigarettes remained the most common companion product to e-cigarettes for youth who use two or more tobacco products (two in five high school students and one in three middle school students in 2018). From a demographic standpoint, e-cigarette use was highest among males, whites, and high school students.
Tobacco use in teens is trending in the direction of wiping out the progress made in recent years to reduce exposure to youths. The report noted, “The prevalence of e-cigarette use by U.S. high school students had peaked in 2015 before declining by 29% during 2015-2016 (from 16% to 11.3%); this decline was the first ever recorded for e-cigarette use among youths in the NYTS since monitoring began, and it was subsequently sustained during 2016-2017). However, current e-cigarette use increased by 77.8% among high school students and 48.5% among middle school students during 2017-2018, erasing the progress in reducing e-cigarette use, as well as any tobacco product use, that had occurred in prior years.”
The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration are taking action to curb the rise in e-cigarette use in youth in particular by seeking regulations to make the products less accessible, raising prices, and banning most flavorings, said Dr. Schuchat.
“We have targeted companies engaged in kid friendly marketing,” said Mitch Zeller, JD, director of the Center for Tobacco Products for the FDA.
In a statement published simultaneously with the Vital Signs study, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, emphasized the link between e-cigarette use in teens and the potential for future tobacco use. “The kids using e-cigarettes are children who rejected conventional cigarettes, but don’t see the same stigma associated with the use of e-cigarettes. But now, having become exposed to nicotine through e-cigs, they will be more likely to smoke.” Dr. Gottlieb declared, “I will not allow a generation of children to become addicted to nicotine through e-cigarettes. We must stop the trends of youth e-cigarette use from continuing to build and will take whatever action is necessary to ensure these kids don’t become future smokers.” He reviewed steps taken in the past year by the FDA to counter tobacco use in teens but he warned of future actions that may need to be taken: “If these youth use trends continue, we’ll be forced to consider regulatory steps that could constrain or even foreclose the opportunities for currently addicted adult smokers to have the same level of access to these products that they now enjoy. I recognize that such a move could come with significant impacts to adult smokers.”
In the meantime, however, parents, teachers, community leaders, and health care providers are on the front lines and can make a difference in protecting youth and curbing nicotine use, Dr. King said.
One of the most important things clinicians can do is to ask young patients specifically about e-cigarette use, he emphasized. Learn and use the terminology the kids are using; ask, “Do you use JUUL?” If they are using these products, “make sure they know they are dangerous,” and can harm the developing brain, he said.
Although there are no currently approved medications to treat nicotine addiction in youth, research suggests that behavioral counseling, as well as reinforcement of the danger of nicotine from parents and other people of influence, can help, Dr. King said.
The Vital Signs report is based on data from the 2011-2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which assesses current use of cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, e-cigarettes, hookahs, pipe tobacco, and bidis among a nationally representative sample of middle and high school students in the United States. The findings were analyzed by the CDC, FDA, and the National Cancer Institute.
SOURCE: Gentzke AS et al. MMWR 2019 Feb 11. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6806e1.
*Correction 2/13/2019 An earlier version of this article misstated the number of students using e-cigarettes as a proportion of all teen tobacco users.
FROM CDC VITAL SIGNS REPORT