TUESDAY, Sept. 24, 2019 (HealthDay News) — From 2014 to 2018, current and daily electronic cigarette use increased among U.S. young adults but declined or remained stable in older age groups, according to a research letter published online Sept. 16 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Hongying Dai, Ph.D., from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, and Adam M. Leventhal, Ph.D., from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, used data from the 2014 to 2018 National Health Interview Surveys to assess self-reported current e-cigarette use and daily e-cigarette use. The analysis included 155,556 respondents (12.1 percent young adults; 51.8 percent women; 64.3 percent non-Hispanic whites, 11.7 percent non-Hispanic blacks, and 15.8 percent Hispanics).
The researchers found that overall, the prevalence of reported current e-cigarette use decreased from 3.7 percent in 2014 to 3.2 percent in 2018. However, changes in current e-cigarette use differed by age. For young adults, reported current e-cigarette use increased from 2014 to 2018 (5.1 to 7.6 percent). From 2014 to 2018, reported e-cigarette use did not significantly change among adults aged 25 to 44 years and linearly decreased among those aged 45 to 64 years and ≥65 years. Results were similar for reported daily e-cigarette use, which significantly differed by age during the study period. The increase in current e-cigarette use among young adults significantly increased among never and former smokers and every demographic subgroup except Hispanics.
“Our results are concerning, given that the recent reports of vaping-related lung injuries and deaths have primarily been seen in adolescents and young adults,” Leventhal said in a statement.
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