Dr. Poole added that a study published this year found that youths who’d never smoked traditional cigarettes were 87% more likely to start if they had first tried e-cigarettes (JAMA Pediatr. 2018;172(2):181-187).
And more children are using e-cigarettes frequently. The National Youth Tobacco Survey found that 16% of high schoolers in 2016 had used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, way up from 1.5% in 2011, even as traditional cigarette use has declined from 15.8% to 9.3% among those children over that time.
Thomas R. Collins/ Frontline Medical News
Dr. Loretta Que
Loretta Que, MD, associate professor of medicine at Duke University, Durham, N.C., noted how advertising for e-cigarettes is similar to the old ads for traditional cigarettes, attempting to convey coolness. With their wide array of colors and thousands of flavors, there is no doubt that e-cigarette pens have caught on among children, she said.
“They’re becoming something akin to an iPhone case or a handbag.”