Changes from 2017 to 2018 in e-cigarette use and in ever marijuana use with e-cigarettes among US adolescents: analysis of the National Youth Tobacco Survey

Konstantinos Farsalinos, Anastasia Barbouni, Raymond Niaura

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Aims: To examine changes from 2017 to 2018 in e-cigarette use and ever marijuana use with e-cigarettes among US adolescents. Design: Analysis of data from the 2017 and 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), cross-sectional surveys of US middle school (grades 6–8) and high school (grades 9–12) students. Setting: United States. Participants: US adolescent population from middle school, with mean age = 12.7 [standard deviation (SD) = 1.0] years, and high school, with mean age = 16.1 (SD = 1.3) years. Measurements: Analysis of e-cigarette use and ever use of marijuana with e-cigarettes according to frequency of use and smoking status, comparing 2017 with 2018. Frequent smoking and e-cigarette use was defined as use for ≥ 20 of the past 30 days. Findings: Past 30 days e-cigarette use was reported by 33.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 29.1–37.4%] of ever/no past 30 days smokers, 68.6% (95% CI = 64.1–72.7%) of past 30 days smokers and 7.2% (95% CI = 6.3–8.2%) of never smokers in 2018 and by 19.3% (95% CI = 16.1–23.1%), 53.0% (95% CI = 46.9–58.9%) and 3.3% (95% CI = 2.7–4.4%) in 2017, respectively (all P < 0.001). Prevalence of past 30 days e-cigarette use was higher among frequent smokers (69.8%, 95% CI = 62.3–76.5% in 2018; 53.8%, 95% CI = 44.1–63.2% in 2017, P < 0.001) and lower among never smokers. Most of the latter were infrequent users, while frequent and daily e-cigarette use was 18- and 24-fold lower compared with ever smokers, respectively. Approximately half of past 30 days and 70% of frequent e-cigarette users reported ever marijuana use with e-cigarettes in both years. Past 30 days smokers were more likely to report past 30 days e-cigarette use [odds ratio (OR) = 15.79, 95% CI = 12.58–19.83 in 2018; OR = 16.11, 95% CI = 12.44–20.86 in 2017) compared with adolescents reporting no past 30 days smoking. Conclusions: Among US adolescents, e-cigarette use increased in all smoking groups in 2018 compared with 2017. Frequent and daily e-cigarette use was far lower in never-smokers compared with ever-smokers. High prevalence of ever marijuana use with e-cigarettes was observed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)139-149
Number of pages11
JournalAddiction
Volume116
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2021

Keywords

  • Adolescents
  • United States
  • electronic cigarettes
  • marijuana
  • nicotine
  • smoking
  • Prevalence
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Humans
  • Vaping/epidemiology
  • Male
  • Smoking/epidemiology
  • United States/epidemiology
  • Adolescent
  • Female
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems/statistics & numerical data
  • Child
  • Students/statistics & numerical data
  • Marijuana Use/epidemiology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Medicine (miscellaneous)

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