Youth Tobacco Use in America: An Update
The US Food and Drug Administration, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released the results of the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) in September 2020. The NYTS is a cross-sectional, school-based, self-administered survey of US middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) students conducted during January 16-March 16, 2020. The survey assessed current (past 30-day) e-cigarette use and weighted prevalence estimates and population totals were calculated.
The survey showed an encouraging decrease in overall youth e-cigarette use, but also a concerning increase in use of disposable e-cigarettes along with use of fruit and menthol flavored e-cigarettes. In the slides below, find more key takeaways for primary care.
Results showed a decrease in youth tobacco use with 1.73 million fewer current users in 2020 compared to 2019.
By tobacco product, current use among high school and middle school students was highest for e-cigarettes.
Although e-cigarettes are the most common tobacco product used among students, there were 1.8 million fewer e-cigarette users in 2020 than 2019. However, youth e-cigarette use has increased dramatically since 2011, and 3.6 million youth still currently used e-cigarettes in 2020.
Among current e-cigarette users, 38.9% of high school students and 20% of middle school students reported using e-cigarettes on ≥20 of the past 30 days; 22.5% of high school users and 9.4% of middle school users reported daily use.
Among all current e-cigarette users, 82.9% used flavored e-cigarettes (84.7% high school users; 73.9% middle school users). Among students who currently used any type of flavored e-cigarettes, the most commonly used flavors were fruit, mint, menthol, and candy, desserts, or other sweets.
Among both high school and middle school current e-cigarette users, the most commonly used e-cigarette device was prefilled pods or cartridges.
The report highlighted the surge in disposable e-cigarette use among US youth as especially concerning. Between 2019 and 2020, disposable e-cigarette use increased approximately 1000% among high school current users and 400% among middle school current users.
