Electronic-cigarette use among young people in Wales: evidence from two cross-sectional surveys

Abstract

ObjectivesTo examine the prevalence of electronic(e)-cigarette use, prevalence of e-cigarette and tobacco use by age, and associations of e-cigarette use with sociodemographic characteristics, tobacco and cannabis use among young people in Wales.DesignData from two nationally-representative cross-sectional surveys undertaken in 2013–2014. Logistic regression analyses, adjusting for school-level clustering, examined sociodemographic characteristics of e-cigarette use, and associations between e-cigarette use and smoking.SettingPrimary and secondary schools in Wales.ParticipantsPrimary-school children aged 10–11 (n=1601) and secondary-school students aged 11–16 (n=9055).ResultsPrimary-school children were more likely to have used e-cigarettes (5.8%) than tobacco (1.6%). Ever use of e-cigarettes remained more prevalent than ever use of tobacco until age 14–15. Overall, 12.3% of secondary-school students (aged 11–16) reported ever using e-cigarettes, with no differences according to gender, ethnicity or family affluence. The percentage of ‘never smokers’ reporting having used e-cigarettes was 5.3% at age 10–11 to 8.0% at age 15–16. The proportion of children who had ever used an e-cigarette and reported currently smoking increased from 6.9% among 10–11 year olds to 39.2% in 15–16 year olds. Only 1.5% (n=125) of 11–16 year-olds, including 0.3% of never smokers, reported regular e-cigarette use (use at least once a month). Current weekly smokers were 100 times more likely than non-smokers to report regular e-cigarette use (relative risk ratio (RRR=121.15; 95% CI 57.56 to 254.97). Regular e-cigarette use was also more likely among those who had smoked cannabis (RRR 53.03; 95% CI 38.87 to 80.65).ConclusionsMany young people (including never-smokers) have tried e-cigarettes. However, regular use is less common, and is associated with tobacco cigarette use. Longitudinal research is needed to understand age-related trajectories of e-cigarette use and to understand the temporal nature of relationships between e-cigarette and tobacco use.

Heterogeneity in the measurement and reporting of outcomes in studies of electronic cigarette use in adolescents: a systematic analysis of observational studies

“…The median number of participants was 3127 (IQR=1320 to 16 193). Participants’ ages were reported as: (A) middle and high school age,14 18 19 high school age only20; (B) aged 9–18+,17 10–16,33 11–18,15 12–18,29 13–18,32 ‘predominantly 14 to 15’,39 14–17,28 14–18,24 15,25 15–19,26 16–17,12 and 17–25 years37 ;and (C) a mean age (SD) of 12.2 (0.9) and 15.6 (1.2) for middle and high school students,31 14.0 (0.87) and 16.5 (0.77) for middle and high school students,22 12.4 (0.5),34 12.5 (0.6),27 14.5 (2.0),23 14.6 (0.7),40 14.6 (1.9),38 ∼14.7 (0.1),16 15.1 (2.1),41 16.2,36 and 16.4 (1.4) 11. All studies were funded by non-industry sources.…”

Adolescent Awareness and Use of Electronic Cigarettes: A Review of Emerging Trends and Findings

“…at least once per month; see Table 1). Regular use of e-cigarettes was reported at 1.5% in the UK 34 , 0.5% in Greece 35 and 3.2% in Ireland 21 . In addition, it was reported at 24% in Switzerland a 36 .…”

Prevalence and correlates of electronic cigarette use among Canadian students: cross-sectional findings from the 2014/15 Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey

“…20 By comparison, in 2015, 16% of US students in grades 9-12 and 5% of those in grades 6-8 reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, a significant increase from 1.5% and 0.6%, respectively, in 2011. 1 In the UK, lifetime rates of e-cigarette use ranged from 8% to 12% in 2013/14, 15,21,22 whereas more-than-monthly use ranged from 0.4% to 2%. 23 Literature on e-cigarette use across Canada is lacking, because of the absence of representative data for high school and middle school students.…”