Abstract
Background
It is important to study the trends of e-cigarette use among various subgroups to
understand which populations may be more susceptible to increased use and, therefore,
are at risk for potential long-term health effects.
Methods
We used cross-sectional data from the 2016-2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance
System, a nationally representative U.S. telephone-based survey of adults aged 18
years or older. The 2017 dataset also includes data from participant interviews that
had been conducted in the year 2018. Current e-cigarette use was defined as use of
e-cigarettes every day or on some days. We analyzed data using survey weights to ensure
representativeness of the data to the US population.
Results
The study population consisted of 936,319 individuals, of whom 28,917 were current
e-cigarette users, and corresponded to 10.8 million U.S. adults. Thirty percent were
aged between 18 and 34 years. Forty-nine percent were men; 63% were white, 12% black,
and 17% Hispanic. The overall prevalence of current e-cigarette use increased from
4.3% in 2016 to 4.8% in 2018. E-cigarette use significantly increased among middle-aged
adults (from 3.9% to 5.2%; P = .004), women (from 3.3% to 4.3%; P <.001), and former smokers (from 5.2% to 7.9%; P = .02), but decreased among current smokers (from 14.5% to 13.8%; P = .02).
Conclusions
In a nationally representative sample, we found important trends in e-cigarette use
in a relatively short time frame. A significantly increasing prevalence of e-cigarette
use was noted among middle-age adults, women, and former smokers. Our study provides
important information about e-cigarette trends that can be used by clinicians when
counselling patients and by regulatory agencies to develop public policies.
Keywords
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References
- e-Cigarette use among youth in the United States, 2019 [e-pub ahead of print].JAMA. November 2019; (Accessed December 12, 2019)https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.18387
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Weighting the BRFSS data. Available at:https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/annual_data/2017/pdf/weighting-2017-508.pdf. Accessed April 17, 2019.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: March 25, 2020
Footnotes
Funding: None.
Conflict of Interest: None.
Authorship: All authors had access to the data and a role in writing this manuscript.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
