Findings from New Pediatrics Study are Not Relevant to Overall U.S.

A new study published today in the journal Pediatrics concludes that overall nicotine product use among youth is increasing and that many youth who would not otherwise have used a nicotine product are doing so because of e-cigarettes.(See: Barrington-Trimis JL, et al. E-cigarettes, cigarettes, and the prevalence of adolescent tobacco use. Pediatrics 2016; 138(2):e2015983.)The study reports the prevalence of current cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use among a cohort of youth reaching 11th and 12th grade, after having been followed for a period of two to 12 years. The youth sample was drawn from schools in 12 southern California communities. Based on the finding that the combined use of cigarettes and/or e-cigarettes increased from 2004 to 2014, the authors conclude that overall nicotine use among youth is increasing due to e-cigarettes, meaning that many youth who would not have smoked cigarettes are becoming vapers.Specifically, cigarette smoking among high school seniors at these schools dropped from 9.0% in 2004 to 7.8% in 2014, e-cigarette use increased from 0% in 2004 to 9.8% in 2014, and the combined use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes rose from 9.0% in 2004 to 13.7% in 2014.The Rest of the Story The most important thing for readers to understand is that this study pertains to 12 specific schools in southern California, so the results cannot be generalized to the overall United States. In fact, comparable data from the national Monitoring the Future survey refute the fi...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs