Just last Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its much anticipated annual National Youth Tobacco Survey1J. Birdsey et al., “Tobacco Product Use Among U.S. Middle and High School Students,” in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 72, no. 44, pp. 1173-1182, Nov. 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7244a1.htm. The survey – which is considered to be one of the most reliable sources of vaping statistics in the U.S. – involved more than 22,069 students from 179 schools. Last Spring, thousands of middle and high school students across the U.S. answered the online survey.
Here are the key findings for tobacco products.
- 10% (2.80 million) of students reported current use of any tobacco product
- 12.6% (1.97 million) of high school students reported current use of any tobacco product
- 6.6% (800,000) of middle school students reported current use of any tobacco product
When we compare these figures to the CDC’s National Youth Tobacco Survey for 20222“Results from the Annual National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS),” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, [Online]. Available: https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/youth-and-tobacco/results-annual-national-youth-tobacco-survey, we can see that there has been a decline in the number of middle and high schoolers who use tobacco products. In 2022, 11.3% (3.08 million) of middle and high schoolers reported current use of any tobacco product.
Here are the key findings for e-cigarettes.
- 7.7% (2.13 million) of students reported current use of e-cigarettes
- 10.0% (1.56 million) of high school students reported current use of e-cigarettes
- 4.6% (550,000) of middle school students reported current use of e-cigarettes
When compared to the same survey from last year, the 2023 figures are heading in the right direction. In 2022, 14.1% (2.14 million) of high school students and 3.3% (380,000) of middle school students reported current use of e-cigarettes. The amount of high school students who admit to using e-cigarettes has dropped by almost 4%, but the number of middle school students who claim to currently use e-cigarettes has increased by 1.3%.
However, the war against e-cigarettes is not over. According to the 2023 survey, e-cigarettes are the most popular tobacco product of choice among middle and high school students for the 10th year in a row.
Here is the full list of the most commonly used devices.
- E-cigarettes (7.7%)
- Cigars (1.6%)
- Cigarettes (1.6%)
- Nicotine Pouches (1.5%)
- Smokeless (chewing tobacco, snuff, dip, or snus) (1.2%)
- Other oral nicotine products (lozenges, discs, tablets, gums, dissolvable tobacco products, and other products) (1.2%)
- Hookahs (1.1%)
- Heated Tobacco Products (1.0%)
- Pipe Tobacco (0.5%)
E-cigarettes are still under the spotlight as one of the go-to targets for lawmakers who want to take a stand against nicotine and tobacco products. Popular brands like Elf Bar, Esco Bars, Vuse, and Juul often come under fire because they contain fruity flavors with fun names, which are widely known to entice young people to start vaping3A. M. Leventhal, N. I. Goldenson, J. Cho, M. G. Kirkpatrick, R. S. McConnell, M. D. Stone, R. D. Pang, J. Audrain-McGovern, and J. L. Barrington-Trimis, “Flavored E-cigarette Use and Progression of Vaping in Adolescents,” Pediatrics, vol. 144, no. 5, Art. no. e20190789, Nov. 2019. [Online]. Available: https://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-0789.
The National Youth Tobacco Survey found that almost 9 out of 10 middle and high school students who use e-cigarettes use flavored variations of their favorite brand, which further emphasizes the need to control youth access to fruity, unusual flavors.
Regardless, the overarching message in the National Youth Tobacco Survey is a positive one. The figures don’t lie: the number of high school students in the U.S. who use e-cigarettes is on the decrease.
