This page reports the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey, collected in January–March 2020, and the rules in force then.
Any tobacco product is unsafe for young people, e-cigarettes included. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive, can harm the developing adolescent brain and can raise the risk of later addiction to other drugs. E-cigarette use among U.S. youths had risen considerably since 2011, driven in part by flavors that appeal to young people and by new products. On February 6, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began prioritizing enforcement against the manufacture, distribution and sale of certain unauthorized flavored prefilled pod or cartridge e-cigarettes, other than tobacco or menthol flavors.
The survey
CDC and FDA analyzed the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey, a nationally representative, school-based, self-administered survey of middle school (grades 6–8) and high school (grades 9–12) students. It ran from January 16 to March 16, 2020, cut short by widespread school closures during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. "Current use" meant use in the past 30 days. Population totals are rounded down to the nearest 10,000 students.
How many used them
| High school | Middle school | |
|---|---|---|
| Current e-cigarette users | 19.6% (3.02 million) | 4.7% (550,000) |
| Of users: used on 20 or more of the past 30 days | 38.9% | 20.0% |
| Of users: used every day | 22.5% | 9.4% |
| Of users: used flavored e-cigarettes | 84.7% (2.53 million) | 73.9% (400,000) |
Among all current users, 82.9% used flavored products.
That was about one in five high school students and one in 20 middle school students, down from 2019, when 27.5% of high school students (4.11 million) and 10.5% of middle school students (1.24 million) were current users. Even so, 3.6 million young people were still using e-cigarettes in 2020, and more than eight in 10 of them used flavored products.
Which devices
| Device most often used | High school users | Middle school users |
|---|---|---|
| Prefilled pods or cartridges | 48.5% (1.45 million) | 41.3% (220,000) |
| Disposables | 26.5% (790,000) | 15.2% (80,000) |
| Tanks | 14.8% (440,000) | 21.5% (110,000) |
Pods and cartridges were still the most common device, as in 2019, but disposable e-cigarettes surged. Among high school users, disposable use rose approximately 1,000%, from 2.4% to 26.5%; among middle school users, approximately 400%, from 3.0% to 15.2%.
Which flavors
Among users of flavored e-cigarettes:
| Flavor | High school | Middle school |
|---|---|---|
| Fruit | 73.1% (1.83 million) | 75.6% (290,000) |
| Mint | 55.8% (1.39 million) | 46.5% (180,000) |
| Menthol | 37.0% (920,000) | 23.5% (90,000) |
| Candy, desserts or other sweets | 36.4% (910,000) | 47.2% (180,000) |
Among users of flavored pods or cartridges, the most common flavors were fruit (66.0%), mint (57.5%), menthol (44.5%) and candy, desserts or other sweets (35.6%). Among users of flavored disposables, they were fruit (82.7%), mint (51.9%), candy, desserts or other sweets (41.7%) and menthol (23.3%). Menthol, in other words, was used by nearly half of flavored pod and cartridge users and a quarter of flavored disposable users.
Flavors used by middle and high school students who currently used flavored e-cigarettes, by device type, 2020. CDC and FDA, MMWR.
What can help
The authors say that evidence-based strategies at the national, state and local levels, coordinated with FDA regulation, can prevent and reduce youth tobacco use, and that tackling what drives youth e-cigarette use is especially important. Beyond FDA's enforcement policy, which barred the sale of pod and cartridge e-cigarettes in flavors other than tobacco or menthol, several states and communities had restricted sales of all flavored e-cigarettes, menthol included.
Sources
- Wang TW, Neff LJ, Park-Lee E, Ren C, Cullen KA, King BA. "E-cigarette Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2020." MMWR 69(37). https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6937e1.htm
- National Youth Tobacco Survey: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/surveys/nyts/index.htm; FDA enforcement policy: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-finalizes-enforcement-policy-unauthorized-flavored-cartridge-based-e-cigarettes-appeal-children
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.cdc.gov
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