US youth e-cigarette use decreases in 2020 with a dramatic switch to disposable e-cigarette use
Wang TW, et al. E-cigarette Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 9 September 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6937e1.htm?s_cid=mm6937e1_w&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
In 2020, approximately one in five high school students and one in 20 middle school students currently used e-cigarettes. By comparison, in 2019, 27.5% of high school students (4.11 million) and 10.5% of middle school students (1.24 million) reported current e-cigarette use (2). Although these data reflect a decline in current e-cigarette use since 2019, 3.6 million U.S. youths still currently used e-cigarettes in 2020, and among current users, more than eight in 10 reported using flavored e-cigarettes.
Consistent with 2019, prefilled pods or cartridges were the most commonly used device type in 2020; however, during 2019–2020, disposable e-cigarette use increased approximately 1,000% (from 2.4% to 26.5%) among high school current e-cigarette users and approximately 400% (from 3.0% to 15.2%) among middle school current e-cigarette users. Although use of fruit flavored e-cigarettes was common among users in 2020, findings also suggest prominent menthol e-cigarette use, including among nearly one half of flavored prefilled pod or cartridge users and one quarter of flavored disposable product users.
Stephen Hamann
