In coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released federal data from the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYSTS) on e-cigarette use among U.S. youth. The findings were published in the Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report and showed that youth use of e-cigarettes is still what the FDA would consider to be high, with 2.5 million (9.4 percent) of the nation’s middle and high school students reporting current e-cigarette use.
The study was conducted from January-May 2022 through an online survey. It was discovered that about 1 in 10 U.S. middle (3.3 percent) and high (14.1 percent) school students reported using e-cigarettes within the past 30 days. Nearly 85 percent of these youth reported using flavored e-cigarettes, and more than 1 in 4 (27.6 percent) reported daily use of an e-cigarette.
The most commonly used e-cigarette device type as disposables. The top three brands that youth e-cigarette uses reported using were Puff Bar (14.5 percent), Vuse (12.5 percent), and Hyde (5.5 percent). Both Puff Bar and Vuse were offered as pre-chosen options while Hyde was written in as a preferred brand. Because of this, the study believes Hyde use could be underestimated.
In a press release, FDA commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D., commented: “The FDA remains deeply concerned about e-cigarette use among our nation’s youth. It’s clear that we still have a serious public health problem that threatens the years of progress we have made combating youth tobacco product use. We cannot and will not let our guard down on this issue. The FDA remains steadfast in its commitment to using the full range of our authorities to address youth e-cigarette use head-on.”
Responding to the Findings
Within the same press release detailing the results of the study, the FDA announced that it had taken additional steps to address some of the popular e-cigarette brands named in the study.
