Selya A, Shiffman S, Hannon MJ. Youth patterns of use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) waves 4-5.5.
Addict Behav 2023;
145:107783. [PMID:
37356317 DOI:
10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107783]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/27/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Youth use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is a continuing concern, making it important to assess evolving patterns, especially as non-tobacco, non-menthol (NTM) flavors were withdrawn for pod-based (but not disposable) ENDS in February 2020.
METHODS
Trends in past-30-day (P30D) ENDS use and smoking prevalence, usual device type, flavor (tobacco, mint/menthol, or fruit/sweet/other), and regular/last-used brand in PATH Waves 4 (2017), 4.5 (2018), 5 (2019), and 5.5 (2020) were examined. Shifts between 2019 and 2020 in flavor use for pods and disposables were examined.
RESULTS
P30D ENDS use peaked in 2019 at 8.6 % of all youth, subsequently declining by nearly half to 4.5 % in 2020. Meanwhile, P30D cigarette smoking declined to an all-time low (1.3 %) in 2020. Within this overall decline, consumption shifted to disposable ENDS, which increased nearly 10-fold (from 5.0 % to 49.2 % of P30D ENDS users). Relatedly, use of fruit/sweet/other flavors remained similar overall between 2019 and 2020 (approximately 75-80 % of P30D ENDS users), but the use of these flavors became concentrated in disposable ENDS in 2020 (a 12-fold increase from 4.4 % to 58.4 % of fruit/sweet/other-flavor users).
CONCLUSIONS
PATH results show similar trends to other US national surveys in youth ENDS trends. The removal of non-tobacco, non-menthol flavors in pod-based ENDS (while remaining available in disposables) has likely driven youth towards disposable devices, resulting in continued high use of fruit/sweet/other flavors, which are now predominant in users of disposable ENDS. Wave 5.5 is uninformative regarding brand use because common disposable brands were not queried.
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